


You Can't Take The Sky From Me

by hexmionegranger



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Firefly Setting, Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, Alternate Universe - Space, Angst, Background Poly, Background Relationships, Background Slash, Black Hermione Granger, Explosions, F/F, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Firefly basically, Fluff, Humor, Humour, Kidnapping, M/M, Mechanic!Pansy, Minor Character Death, Multi, Relationship(s), Romance, Sexual Content, Smut, Space Pirates, Steampunk, kind of, pansy is the space heroine we all deserve, the space epic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-14
Updated: 2018-10-18
Packaged: 2018-12-01 23:43:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 43,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11497281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hexmionegranger/pseuds/hexmionegranger
Summary: Pansy Parkinson is good at her job. More than good, in fact. Unfortunately, skill with engines is not often enough to prevent your ship from being pulled over by The Ministry, or to stop your crew from being apprehended for piracy and arrested for treason.Luckily, it is enough to curry the favour of a group of researchers-cum-kidnappers, and convince them to embark on an incredibly dangerous mission to save said crew and potentially the galaxy, preferably before Pansy develops any problematic feelings for a certain redheaded scientist.Or, at least, Pansy hopes it is. Because at this point, she sure as fuck doesn't have any other plans.





	1. Follow the Plan

**Author's Note:**

> _take me out to the black_  
>  _tell them I ain't coming back_  
>  _burn the land and boil the sea_  
>  _you can't take the sky from me_  
>  \- joss whedon, _the ballad of serenity_

## Part One

* * *

“Mother _fucker_ ,” she hissed, as the engine in front of her came to a screeching, stuttering halt. “That is abso-fucking-lutely _not_ a good sign.”

It wasn’t. Pansy might not have a fancy school coding, or - really - even an instructional manual for the hunk of almost literal trash she called a ship, but she _knew_ that under no circumstances was her engine ever, _ever_ supposed to stop.

Huffing slightly and not taking her eyes off the unusually-still contraption in front of her, she reached out in the direction of her mod-comm and punched at the buttons until a familiar tone buzzed to life.

“Cap?” she called out, pausing and waiting for the long-suffering sigh and the expected retort of, ‘ _how many gorram times have I told you not to call me_ Cap _?_ ’ and when it didn’t come after ten, then twenty seconds, Pansy started to panic. 

“Draco?” she pressed, reaching out to hit a few buttons on her console in vain hopes that her ship would whirr to life again. “ _Theo_?” Still silence.

Not good. _Not good at all_.

It only took another minute before Pansy decided that the engine was only one of her now rapidly piling up crises, and she turned back for the mod-comm and started punching in individual numbers. Nothing from Draco or Theo’s room, nothing from the bridge deck, nothing from the kitchens. Finally, down in the hold, someone answered.

“Pansy?” came a gruff and slightly out of breath voice.

If she had been the type of person to cry, she might have.

“Flint?” Pansy responded, letting out a breath she hadn’t entirely realized she was holding. “Thank fuck. Flint, we’ve got a major effing problem down here. The engine has-”

“Pansy,” he spoke again, and this time his voice was slower, with a hint of warning coursing through it. The tone you only knew when you lived your life on the edge of legal, when you always had to worry - just a little bit - about the fact that at almost any moment you could potentially be arrested and imprisoned, or worse. Pansy knew that tone, and she heard it clearly, and her heart froze and sank in understanding.

The only reason her engine could ever stop spinning and her ship stay in the air.

“Is everyone okay?” she asked, thinking quickly of where her closest gun was, how many knives she had strapped to herself today, what they had in the cargo bay, if it would be better or worse to hit the Ministry or someone they owed.

Marcus swallowed audibly. “Dunno. Draco and Theo went with the first ship, fucking cocksuckers going on about legal operations and needing to find their papers and ‘ _probably just some big misunderstanding, Officers-’_ ”

“Did they seriously think that’d work?” Pansy groaned, letting her forehead drop down onto the screen in front of her, tuning out the flashing red and the fact that her engine wasn’t actually _still_ , but _frozen_ \- alive and hung in the midst of motion, buzzing like it was searching for a way out.

 _No way out_ , she thought, bitterly.

“Dunno,” Marcus hedged. “But, look. I’m trying to get rid of some of the worse shit we’ve got here. Pans, you’ve got to-” Marcus stopped and Pansy strained her ear, wincing as she realized she heard footsteps. Their hold was well hidden, but if it were a Ministry ship, they’d know where to go. “Look, they’re gonna be here any minute. Stay hidden, Pans. Try to stay with the ship, okay? You know the emergency plan, right? You know what to do?”

Pansy bit down on the inside of her cheek, running back through the endless lectures, Draco’s insistence on _contingency_ and his stern reminders to ‘ _guard this ship with your fucking life, but don’t fucking_ die _for it, am I clear?’_. “Yeah,” Pansy managed to whisper back, trying to think if she could get them out of it. She couldn’t override Ministry engine blocks while they were still here. It just wasn’t done. Maybe with enough time, but… not like this. Not when it could mean the lives of her men. Her crew. 

Her heart lurched and she was reminded, again, that she hadn’t actually expected this. To be caught, maybe. Or to care if they were. The ship had been a way out, a way forward. Nothing more.

It shouldn’t hurt like this. 

“Pansy!” Marcus was saying again, trying to get her attention.

“I got it, Flint. Follow the plan.”

The footsteps were louder now, and Pansy wasn’t sure if they were headed for her, or just nearly on top of Marcus. 

Her heart clenched and she screwed her eyes shut as the only world she’d ever started to love began to crumble around her. “Marcus,” she mumbled, and she had to remind herself that she didn’t cry. Not over anything, especially not over shit like this. It was probably all going to be fine. “Don’t be an idiot, right? I expect to see you exactly when and where I’m s’posed to. You hear me?” 

“I got it, Pans. Hey. Maybe when we see each other again, maybe we’ll… we’ll try this out again, eh? You and me?”

Pansy couldn’t help but huff out a laugh. “Yeah. Yeah, maybe we will. But if you want to fuck me again, you have to do me a little fucking favour and not try and be a fucking martyr and get yourself fucking _killed_ , right?” 

Before Marcus could answer, Pansy heard the hold door slam open. She tried not to listen to the gruff voices demanding Marcus back away from the cargo, to the way Marcus tried to laugh them off. Tried not to listen when she heard a gunshot, and she forced herself to reach up and shut off the channel before she heard anything else. 

Her brain clicked sluggishly into action. _Follow the plan_. The engine room was far and away from nearly everything else on her ship thanks to the strange layout. She had time, and so she had a job to do. Delete contacts, clear location logs, erase things the ship shouldn’t be able to forget. Make them as unappealing as possible, empty, a skeleton crew. And then crawl into a space that maybe wouldn’t be noticed, and wait to be found. Or to be left, floating, abandoned for scavengers and thieves, for pirates.

For someone like her.

* * *

 

When Pansy opened her eyes, she was not alone. 

It took her a moment to focus on the fact that, only a few inches away from her face, a pair of large steely bright blue eyes were peering down at her. Almost unblinkingly. It took her a moment to realize where she was - crammed into her safety spot, tucked down under a mess and tangle of metal. Frankly, she was shocked someone had even thought to look for her. And then she realized what had happened - the gravity of it all slammed down onto her and she gasped in a breath and reached for her closest kept knife.

And found that her hand was being held back - thin fingers wrapped around her wrist that she hadn’t even noticed. Presumably, she decided, connected to the blue eyes.

“Hmm. Alive after all, it seems,” the person - the man, she now knew - spoke. His voice was professional, clipped and serious. No joking lilt like Marcus, or the rich pompous drawl of Draco and Theo. It was plain, wholly forgettable.

Pansy panicked. She couldn’t see much more than his face, wasn’t sure if he was Ministry or something worse. “What are you doing on my sh-” and then she paused, swallowed, licked her lips. That wasn’t the right play here. She was alone, had probably been drifting from the lights that flickered across the room on her control panel. This wasn’t the Ministry, or at least - not the main branch. She had to play it better than that. The blue eyes were still watching her and it was starting to become unnerving, and so she finally settled on what seemed like an easy enough question. “Who are you?” 

Slowly, the eyes shrank as the man retreated, and then she felt herself being tugged rather unceremoniously out her her hiding space. She was thankful she hadn’t worn her typical work outfit that day, and although she missed the heavy weight of her toolbelt - she could see it glinting out from under where she’d stashed it - it was a good thing. The less culpable she was here, the better. Besides, her looser flowing trousers had more space for hidden knives, and she was thankful for _all_ of those right now. 

“None of your business,” the man continued, still holding firmly onto her wrist. He activated a com-device on his other arm and Pansy strained to listen. 

“ _Ten-four, this is Wood, what’s your status?”_

“Found a girl - alive, no crew signia. Ministry engine blockers, looks like, nothing of any value down here. No other signs of life that I can see.”

Pansy fought the anger that rose into her chest at his words. Nothing of value? _Her ship_ \- no value? She bit her tongue hard to fight from lashing out and worked instead at sliding her hand closer to her favourite knife, working it carefully loose from its sheath. 

“ _Balls_. _Right, thanks Per-er, thanks, Weasley. Bring her up to the deck, nothing of use for us here, gents.”_  

Pansy noticed the way the man’s cheek twitched at the words from the other side of the comm, and she thought she caught the start of another voice - a frustrated female one from the sound of it - but the comm was off before she had a chance. Clearly, they weren’t usually scavengers, or at least, not very good ones. It was obvious the man, _Wood_ , hadn’t been using code names, and he nearly let her current captor’s full name slip. A big mistake, in this business.

While this _Weasley_ fiddled with his comm - pulling up a map, it seemed - Pansy seized her moment of distraction and shifted in his grip. Before her knife found skin, the taller (much taller, she noticed) man followed her actions and it was gone from her fingers before she had a chance.

“Good try,” he commented, his voice still almost flat. “Not quite good enough, unfortunately. No more of that, let’s go.” And then he had her hands locked together and she cursed under her breath at the use of the device pulsing around her wrists and restricting her movement. They were expensive, beyond the use of most scavengers. She was working with a different level now, and she needed to remember that. 

Luckily, as they slipped through the door, she managed to reach out just an inch and hit the most important button on the ship. The one she had put there. If they were very, very lucky, the Ministry would fly out of range or the blocker would give up before the ship was stripped for all she was worth. If she was even luckier still, she’d make it away from whoever her current captors were, and this wouldn’t be the last time she inhaled the smoky air of her _home_. 

Pansy didn’t cry, but today - she was closer than she had ever been.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WELL.
> 
> Hello!
> 
> I'm.... to be honest, still not entirely sure how this happened. Like, I had this...dream...that inspired a line which I HAD to use in a smut scene. So they I kind of half wrote the scene. And then I was like, damn, what kind of setting can I put this in? I was just going to write a SHORT DRABBLE, okay?! And I tried to fit it into a kind of generic office relationship thing and it just wasn't working.
> 
> So. The dream itself was for some inexplicable reason set in space. And I figured, hey, why the hell not, let's roll with it!
> 
> Except... then it kind of snowballed, and my betas are basically terrible influences (*cough* LOOKING AT YOU, NYMPHADORAHOLTZMANN & THESKIDDLYBOOP <3) and I? now have somehow written 15k of this fic and I'm barely into the outline I've got going and I haven't even gotten anywhere near that smut scene that I wanted to write and actually I'm not? even entirely sure I can make it work anyways???
> 
> Look. Alls I'm saying is that I really hope you guys are going to enjoy this, because I think we should all be prepared to settle in for a bit of a ride.
> 
> This fic isn't currently finished, but at the time this author's note I'm working on chapter 7 - like I said, I've got around 15k written. I've got a decent outline for at least the next probably 8-10 chapters on top of that, and then I still need to work out a few plot details closer to the end. I'm not even going to attempt at this point to guess how long this is going to be. I'm also not going to promise to stick to a schedule like I did with DTTS, mostly because I want some love with this fic as I'm writing it so I'm going to be posting even though I'm not really done. THAT SAID, my goal is still to try to post ~twice a week, with maybe a bit more thrown in depending on how far ahead I get.
> 
> Please please please let me know in the comments if you're enjoying this fic. I know the main pairing is a pretty rare one, but I promise the other tagged ships with get their time to shine as well. I know not everyone loves Pansy, but I hope you're willing to give her a chance for me?
> 
> Thanks for reading this ridiculous only semi-explanatory author's note, and for giving this weird-ass fic a chance. I can promise: lots more swearing, lots of smut, some intense action scenes, a good dose of hilarity, probably some sappy emotional shit, a somewhat-rusty understanding of science, and maybe even an explosion or two. <3
> 
> (I already said it, but big big love especially to my beta&fave nymphadoraholtzmann, who has already given me like 12 ideas and four pep talks and maybe drew out an entire schematic for the warp drive she basically designed for me, because she's an engineer and I have two liberal arts degrees. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯)


	2. Captive

They were, it seemed, the last people to reach the deck of Wood’s ship. Which made sense, because Pansy had purposefully walked slowly and Weasley hadn’t seemed to wanted to push her much - she’d caught him eyeing the heels she had chosen that day more than once. Clearly, he seemed to think he’d captured a _girl_ , soft and weak and in shoes she couldn’t run away in. One knife that she didn’t know how to use, and a permanent pout on her soft full lips.

For the moment, she decided to let him think that. Until she knew more, of course.

“Aye, was starting to worry about you for a minute,” came a familiar voice. This, of course, must be Wood. He wasn’t anything extraordinary, for a Captain. Didn’t have Draco’s pale grace or Theo’s broad shouldered confidence. Hell, he didn’t even have the imposing air of her father and the few other men she’d happened to meet who had their own ships. He was simply…  a man. Not the tallest she’d met or the shortest. Muscular, but more lean than anything. Sandy beige hair and brown eyes. Forgettable, minus the strange brogue in his accent.

“You worry entirely too much,” said Weasley behind her.

Only.

Pansy was looking at two people who looked so similar to the man who had found her that now she wasn’t entirely sure if Weasley was the best way to refer to him. Two of the crew gathered in front of her must have been related to the man behind. They had the same blue eyes, sharp and bright. And the same bright red hair - the other man’s was longer than her captor’s, and he too was differently shaped. Shorter and less muscular, looked like he had enough to eat. That one was wearing a pair of coveralls with a streak of grease down the side and Pansy nearly winced - how stereotypical did one have to be?

The other, well. That was new. The third Weasley was female, with her red hair tied back into a tight plait that fell down her back. She was in an outfit that looked almost like armour, thick and yet malleable. Pansy could count three guns from what she could see, and she had a small feeling that it would be an insult to this girl - this _woman_ \- to assume she didn’t have far more weapons hidden than the ones in view.

And then, another voice.

That was odd. This ship, from the little Pansy had seen of it, didn’t seem _that_ much larger than her own. And yet she had now met as many crew as her own had. Of course, her ship had empty bedrooms, yes. But they didn’t have a need for more people.

Curious.

This voice was also female, and that struck another odd chord in Pansy as well. If she hadn’t been entirely sure that they were obviously in different lines of business, she would be now. It was exceedingly rare to come across another scavenger ship with one other female on it, let alone two.

“ _Percy_ ,” the voice admonished softly. It was a high and lilting voice and Pansy turned her head to catch a swirl of long blonde hair and a swoop of deep blue skirts. “Why have you got her cuffed?”

Pansy opened her mouth, wondering how easy it would be to get this woman to believe whatever it was she wanted. Play up the ‘sisterhood’ thing. And then she focused and realized that the look in the eyes across from her wasn’t one of pity or worry, but curiosity.

Percy, the Weasley behind her, moved in a way that felt to Pansy like a cross between a shrug and a wave. “She pulled a knife on me,” he explained, and across from them, the girl-Weasley laughed.

“I figured growing up with me you wouldn’t underestimate a woman like that, hmm big-brother?” she teased.

The blonde laughed as well, her entire body turning towards the redhead - a sunflower to a dying light. And then they refocused on Pansy, and Wood stepped forward, clearing his throat.

“‘Lo. Welcome to my ship, The R.S.S. Phoenix. I’m Captain Oliver Wood. See you’ve already met my first mate Percy. What’s your name, sweetheart?”

Pansy thought this over, wondered if she was safer to play the helpless card or to keep her mouth closed until she knew what they wanted. R.S.S. They were commissioned, then, paid by the Ministry. Research ship. Though, she didn’t know many research ships that went on scavenging missions, and the contradiction was enough to keep her mouth closed.

“Hmm,” Oliver mused, looking around at the crew. “Right, nothing to see here everyone. Let’s prep for departure. Perce, take ’er down to the medbay, we’ll see if she’s coded. Luna,” he prompted, and the blonde glanced away from the redhead and in his direction. “She may have been on there quite some time - don’t s’pose you have any extra food you could whip up for our guest? Ron,” second-male-Weasley turned now, but before Pansy could hear the next line of orders, Percy was pulling her in the other direction.

Pansy wondered what it would be like, as they walked, to be on a ship with a medbay. On her ship, you went to Theo if you thought you needed stitches - his hands were the steadiest. Marcus for resetting breaks and dislocations, he was the firmest and most likely to get it over with. Draco had some knack for minor injuries, though he was often too frustrated that someone had managed to get themselves hurt to be much use. Pansy was at the bottom of the chain, because her preferred method of problem solving was hitting things with a wrench, and the boys had very quickly learned that often was not exactly the skill you wanted when you were injured.

She made sure to scan the layout of the ship as they travelled. It was much more straightforward than hers, linear from what she could tell. They passed more than one research bay and she couldn’t help but try and see through the frosted glass, catching what looked like a circuit board on one table. And then, the medbay. It was smaller than she had pictured, but still. Clean and bright, with an operating table stretched out down the middle. And _another_ person, a tiny one with what seemed to be a _lot_ of hair.

Another girl.

Something about this entire operation was starting to seem off. She had never _heard_ of a Ministry authorized ship with _three_ women on it, especially with two of them having jobs. Luna was clearly just the cook - probably one of the men’s wives, though clearly not a very dedicated one.

Percy knocked lightly on the door and the woman inside spun to face them. She wasn’t wearing the classic Doctor’s outfit that Pansy remembered from back when she lived on a colony, just some rather drab getup that anyone could have scooped up on a border moon.

“Percy,” the woman greeted fondly, and then her eyes narrowed as she spotted Pansy. “So this was the commotion I heard on the comms.”

“Yes,” Percy confirmed, nudging Pansy forward a little bit. “Can’t get much out of her, though she did try and stab me, so I’d be careful.”

The woman smiled, and it fell somewhere between friendly and menacing, and Pansy decided if she were going to pull another knife on anyone, it probably wouldn’t be the bushy-haired Doctor.

“Right. Not going to tell us your name then?” The woman asked, raising a brow at Pansy. “That would really be the easiest option, you know.”

Pansy huffed, this was getting frustrating, pretending to be absolutely stupid. “You’re going to scan me either way, aren’t you? Might as well get it over with.”

The woman’s smile turned sharper, and she nodded. “Well, not entirely brain damaged, then. Percy, I’ll need her arm.”

Percy complied, but not before glancing down at Pansy with a stern look in his eyes. “She might look small, but Dr. Granger is no stranger to the use of a sharp blade herself. Don’t try anything.”

Pansy managed her own small, and hopefully placating, smile, and then held her arm out to the woman in front of her.

Pansy had had her code for as long as she could remember - dark black lines drawn in an imperceptible pattern on the inside of her arm. It had shifted as she grew, though had been relatively stable since she had settled into her role on her ship. But the boys hadn’t scanned it when she first joined, and so she hadn’t had it checked in years. For most people, on the colonies or who worked on ships regularly, scanning was such a common practice it was nothing.

This felt vulnerable, strange, and naked and Pansy wanted to run. But Percy was behind her, holding her still, and Dr. Granger had her wrist tightly in a small dark hand. Pansy shut her eyes as she felt the familiar burn of the scanner and listened for the usual beep. It didn’t come. Instead, three warning tones sounded and her heart lurched even further than it had already done that day.

“Pansy Parkinson,” the doctor read off the screen, and Pansy frowned at the sound of her name, so clinical, like it wasn’t one of the most important secrets she kept. They would all know, now. “SD.22343, month older than Ron if you can believe it. Says here she’s been missing some four years, disappeared off London-XW. Looks like her father has a pretty hefty prize out for her return.”

Pansy had to force herself to breathe as panic started to rise in her chest.

“Wait,” she whispered, hoping to god that Percy and Granger would listen to her. “It’s… look, it wasn’t…”

“Kidnapping?” Percy mused, and Pansy had a feeling he wasn’t speaking to her. “Seems odd to keep her for so long - galleons can’t be going up that much after this much time. Runaway?” he suggested, and Dr. Granger shook her head.

“Stowaway, I should think, by the looks of her. Must have been so hard, living on a fully formed planet, plenty to eat and nothing to worry about. Little rich girl wanted a taste of adventure and ended up stuck in the black with a group of pirates.” The doctor nearly spat out the words and Pansy frowned.

“That’s not-” she tried again, but the Doctor was speaking once more.

“Those galleons would go a long way to the project, Percy,” she suggested, and Percy hummed over the thought himself.

“Wouldn’t look bad on my record to return a missing person,” he returned, and Pansy shook her head fiercely.

“Wait, you have to listen! I can’t go back there, I-”

The doctor huffed and turned away, hitting buttons on her scanner, clearly sending the information to the rest of the crew. “We gave you a chance to explain yourself, Parkinson.”

Pansy bit down on her lip. Fuck. _Fuck_. She wished she had Marcus, wished she had Draco or Theo, wished she had someone to run this all over with. _What do I do?_ She wanted to scream. She knew the plan, knew the rules. But this was over her head. She didn’t know this game, the not-quite-heroes she was now stuck with. If they wanted money and Ministry favour…

“Right,” Percy decided, slipping her hand back into the cuff while she was distracted. “I’ll put her down in the cells until we have a plan of action. Thanks, Hermione.”

The woman was already back at her work station, and Pansy took the name and filed it away, though she was becoming increasingly more worried that she didn’t know the game anymore, and names were clearly not the valuable currency she was used to.

* * *

“Knives,” Percy demanded, as they stepped through a shimmering wall into one of the ships so-called ‘cells’. They weren’t _really_ , as she had a bed and a separate bathroom. There was even a small bookcase in this one with a handful of older tomes, nearly relics by the state of them. It had a comm connection and a small porthole, but it also had a clear wall, nowhere to really hide. Pansy figured they were down by the cargo bay - secluded, but not private. She was not a guest here, not really, and Percy raised an eyebrow at her, extending a hand.

Pansy huffed and tugged one out from each of her boots, passing them over to him handle first. She slid one off the outside of her left leg and one from it’s space secure against her forearm.

“Be careful with those,” she snapped at the redhead in front of her. “They mean a great deal to me.”

“I know that’s not all of them,” he responded, and Pansy huffed.

“It is,” she insisted, finally starting to feel tired and bratty after everything she’d been through.

Percy gave her another moment and then he put the knives he had already collected into a small box in the wall that promptly disappeared, and then stepped up towards her. Pansy clenched her fists as he patted her down, running his hands over her legs and smoothing down her flowing trousers to feel against her skin. Pansy couldn’t help but shiver as his hands skimmed over her hips and up her sides, though the moment was short lived when he pressed against the edge of another knife and raised a knowing brow at her.

“Fine,” Pansy huffed, freeing it from her body and dropping it into his hand. “Are you happy now?”

“No,” Percy retorted, and his chest grazed the front of her body as he stepped closer. Pansy had to _swallow_ this time - it had been too long since she was so close to a strange man. Even Marcus - that had been months ago. And despite this one’s obvious downside of capturing her, and his strange clipped tone, there was something about him, as well. He smelled musky, not like her boys did when they couldn’t get fresh water in time for all of them to shower as much as they wished. Clean, but masculine. He was clearly muscular under his own clothes, more so than she had realized earlier. He was taller than her by enough that even in her heels she felt small up against him, and his breath was hot as it ghosted over the side of her face. His hands skimmed up her back and she fought the urge to press her body against his - _pure animal instinct_ , she chided herself - and for just a minute she thought he might have missed it.

“This would all be much easier if you told the truth, Miss. Parkinson,” he mumbled, pressing against the last blade that sat nestled between her shoulderblades.

Pansy inhaled one last time as she pulled it out and away from her body, almost tossing it in his direction. “Fuck you,” she spat, crossing her arms neatly across her chest.

Percy raised a brow, questioning. If she didn’t know any better, she might have thought he was _laughing_ , the way his lips twitched.

And then he turned and left, slipping effortlessly through the wall of glass the shimmered in his wake.

As soon as he was gone, Pansy screamed and lunged herself at the barrier. Predictably, she smashed into the wall and groaned at the impact on her shoulder. “Fuck!” she shouted, lifting a hand to pound at the glass. “Mother _fucker!_ ” she added for emphasis, kicking at it with one of her heels. “Just you fucking _wait_ for my boys to find me! They’ll light this fucking ship on _fire_!”

Finally, after she had kicked and screamed and gotten out most of the anger and pain and hurt that had been building, Pansy sunk down to the ground, back against the glass, and let herself do the only thing she never did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> <3 Thank you ALL for your support after the first chapter!! It means so much to me that you're all willing to give this weirdo fic a chance.
> 
> I know I said I wasn't going to post more but - well, I couldn't help it. So I think I'll aim to post somewhat regularly, but no promises, and we'll just see how this all goes??
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, and as always I love to hear from you so feel free to leave your thoughts down below.
> 
> (Much continued love for my beta nymphadoraholtzmann, I don't have words for how great she is!!!)


	3. War Stories

Percy came back, at some point. Pansy had no conception of time and frankly no real drive to figure it out. She had a vague idea of where she was picked up and figured that no matter how fast this ship could travel, it would probably take them more than a week to get her back to the place that had once been her home.

 Her own personal hellhole.

Frankly, Pansy had a vague plan of going on a hunger strike or _something_ , trying to make a point. If she died, that wouldn’t look great on the crew, nor would it matter to her - home was more or less the same thing. Especially with the added bonus of whatever punishment her father deemed suitable for her vanishing act.

Only, Percy came back with food. That actually smelled like _food_ , not the mostly-stale stolen Ministry rations that she’d been eating for months. Real, normal, _delicious_ smelling food. Delicious looking, too. And Percy had simply sat down on one side of the barrier - on the floor - and placed the food where she could reach it.

Pansy waited for him to leave.

He didn’t. 

Finally, Pansy caved and took the food, moving to sit on the other side of the room while she ate.

It was incredible.

* * *

Percy came every meal for two days before Pansy finally caved. 

“Who sent you?” she demanded, dropping down to sit on the floor across from him. She could feel the scowl pulling at her forehead and hoped she looked like as much of a bitch as she felt. She wanted to throw him off, to make him react, to see a crack in that perfect stoic facade.

Percy simply raised an eyebrow at her. How someone could look so dignified _sitting on the floor of a spaceship_ , Pansy wasn’t sure she’d ever know. “Sent me?”

Pansy resisted the urge to _whine_. “Obviously. You didn’t just choose to come sit out all your meals here with the _prisoner_.”

“And what if I did?”

Pansy rolled her eyes at this. “Than you’re a bigger idiot than I had you pegged for.”

Percy didn’t respond, but his eyes danced in that strange way again and she wondered, for not the first time, whether it was laughter or a trick of the light.

The silence stretched and finally, Pansy couldn’t help herself. “Is your brother as big of an idiot as you are?” she questioned.

Percy’s shoulders stiffened, almost imperceptibly, but Pansy felt a quick rush of thrill for noticing it. In an odd way, he was almost like an engine himself. Little pieces that fit together, she just couldn’t see them all yet. This felt like one of them.

“Pardon?” his voice was strained - again, by so little that she would have missed it, if she hadn’t spent the last two days watching him intensely while pretending not to notice he was there.

“Your brother?” she pressed, then had a thought. “The mechanic? What’s his name? Bron?”

Percy’s shoulders sagged - something like a breath of relief rushed out of him and Pansy only just contained her grin, filing away the idea that he had more than one brother, and that there was something important about one of them. Something that would set him on edge.

“Ron,” Percy filled in, almost automatically. And then frowned. “Why do you ask?”

Pansy shrugged one shoulder, carefully walking the line between casual indifference and a piece of important information. “No real reason. Just that he should probably take a look at the engine balance and check up on the couplings in the warp drive. I’d focus on the one between the combustion chamber and the scrubber, myself.”

Percy paused, and leaned back slightly, clearly surprised by this observation. “And why do you say that?”

Interesting. He wasn’t laughing or dismissing her entirely, instead he was simply watching her as though she was a puzzle he was still trying to figure out the picture for. Pansy wasn’t sure she liked it, but she didn’t hate it either.

“Well,” she began, wondering if he was serious, wondering if he was as smart as she figured him to be, how much she’d need to dumb this down for him. “It might be nothing, but. If you pay attention the next time we kick in or out of warp… just really pay attention - close your eyes, listen to the ship. Maybe that’s just how she sounds. Or, maybe the engine isn’t entirely on center, and it’s starting to strip the coupling just a little bit. Which isn’t a problem.”

Percy raised an eyebrow, and Pansy once again suppressed a grin. Definitely smart.

“At least, not a problem until your entire engine goes. Not a big go. Just a little. Try to shift into warp and the next thing you know you’re dead in the water. You know how warp drives work, right?” Percy shrugged noncommittally and Pansy nearly rolled her eyes. “All I’m saying is he should take a look at the engine, last thing you need in your ship is a bunch of corrosive gas, never know what that’ll fuck up first.” Pansy licked her lips, then decided to go for it. “And if he’s too stupid to notice the problem, he should take it planetside sooner rather than later.”

* * *

“Ron believes that you want us to make a stop so that you can signal your crew.” 

Pansy hummed softly in response. She didn’t move from her position, lying down on her cot, but she had heard his soft footfalls and the telltale noise of him sliding the plate across the floor towards her.

“The classic ‘damsel in distress,’” Pansy finally said, turning her head towards where she knew Percy was sitting. “Not an entirely bad move, though I’m sure you’ll already know that the Ministry captured my entire crew and they’re probably all awaiting _very_ biased trials on Diagon right now.” 

Pansy hadn’t said the words out loud yet, and her stomach sunk as she verbalized them. She’d been pretending, until now, that her crew was fine. That Draco and Theo had sweet talked their way out of whatever the problem was, and that they were now on their way to the agreed upon rendezvous spot to pick her up. She had been pretending she didn’t hear a gunshot, and pretending that she didn’t know the prices on each of their heads. 

Percy was silent as well, and Pansy sighed in resignation. “Did he look?” she finally asked.

“I am not aware. He claims that he did, and that you’re making this ‘problem’ up to trick us into, in his words, letting you out.”

Pansy finally forced her eyes open. Percy was sideways in her vision but just as she was used to seeing him. Sitting on the floor, across from her food, watching her. “What do you think?”

It was Percy’s turn to pause, and then carefully shrug. “I’m not a mechanic,” he began, raising a brow as if to say - _seems like you might be_.

“But?” Pansy pushed, propping herself up on her elbows to look at him, raising her brows expectantly.

“Again, I’m not sure,” Percy said, simply. “I’ve never really paid attention to how the ship feels when it warps.” The unspoken words were that he was too busy with other things. Most people were. If you grew up your whole life on or around ships, warping became so common it was almost like breathing - despite how strange it was in practice. Most people tuned out the oddities, and didn’t notice when things started to go wrong. Pansy, of course, was the person who was paid to notice exactly when they _did_.

Pansy huffed and dropped back to the bed, crossing her arms across her chest once again. She knew she probably looked like a moody child - she _felt_ like one, that was for sure - but she didn’t care. “Not like I give a shit about your stupid ship anyways,” she murmured.

Percy didn’t react.

He _never_ reacted.

Finally, she decided she couldn’t handle him sitting there anymore, and she snapped her head around towards him. He was so fucking _stoic_ and _solid_ and it was starting to drive her absolutely insane. 

“Can you do us all a favour and just leave me the fuck alone?” she snapped. “I don’t want to eat your fucking pity food today and I don’t want to look at your stupid face.”

Percy stood, but didn’t move, and Pansy was an inch away from snapping at him before he spoke again.

“We looked you up, you know. Well, your ship. _The Death Adder_. Interesting choice of a name.”

Pansy huffed. Draco’s stupid name. Only because she had absolutely refused to let him call the damn thing _The Flying Snake_.

She could remember the argument like it was yesterday. ‘ _I bought the ship, Parkinson, I can call it whatever I please!_ ’

‘ _If you want me to keep your dumb fucking piece of shit ship in the air like I’ve been doing for months, then you’re going to listen to me for once in your life_!’

He’d called her a terror and a menace and a bitch - and he’d named the ship The Death Adder. Marginally better than The Flying Snake, at least. 

Pansy didn’t react, even though Percy was clearly trying to pluck at something. “You were at a fight we were at, a few years ago. Near that old colony that The Knights blew up.”

Pansy couldn’t help herself, she exhaled. “ _Hogwarts_ ,” she murmured, and her heart lurched with the memories. Smoke, and so many ships. So hard to tell what was happening. They shouldn’t have been there.

Percy nodded once, tersely. “Yes. My brother is… convinced, shall I say, that our ships got into a bit of an… altercation. That you nearly killed our pilot.”

Her breath stuck in her throat as the memories that she had tried so hard to forget rushed back. They shouldn’t have been there at all, but Blaise had been so convinced they’d find good loot. ‘ _They won’t need it, Pans, they’ll be dead!_ ’

Pansy’s heart lurched at the thought of him, smooth dark skin and a smile that could disarm anyone. That _did_ disarm anyone. Blaise, the whole stupid reason she was even here. The whole reason she had ever made it off her own damn planet. It only seemed fitting, in the worst possible way, that she would have to face him again now that she was being sent back.

She swallowed down a lump and glanced up at Percy, finally. She was so ready to be angry and something in his stance shook that from her. “Your pilot,” she mumbled, trying to remember. There were so many, there had been so many that night.

“Dark haired kid, green eyes. Rather unforgettable, really. The Knights had come out to the edges - no one noticed. We were all down on the colony, trying to help. There was a big school there, did you know that? All those kids…”

Pansy nodded, almost dumbly. Draco had been so _stupid_. They’d been jumping from ship to ship, trying to get in and get out and get what was valuable before someone noticed them. And then they’d started ending up on ships with people who were injured, people who were dead. And Draco had said it was too late. Not worth helping.

And then there was _him_. Pansy knew exactly who Percy meant. So hard not to forget - he was just a kid, really, sprawled out across the deck with blood pouring from his face. And Blaise had shook his head and said it would be kinder to put the kid out of his misery, and lifted his gun.

But Blaise hadn’t hit the target, because someone else had hit him first. A flash of red, Draco dragging them back as fast as he could. And then, the _blood_. All over one stupid fucking kid, and her best friend, her _everything_ was dead.

“Well,” Pansy said, her voice too quiet, too careful. Even Percy could tell he had hit something, and his defensive stance seemed to falter slightly under her solid stare. “Your brother killed the only person that’s ever mattered to me. I bet he sleeps like a fucking _baby_ at night, thinking he was on the right side. He killed a good man, Percy. So I’m sorry if I don’t want to deal with his little _grudge_.”

Percy nodded once, and then turned to leave.

“Listen to me or don’t,” Pansy added, lifting a hand to cover her eyes, to try and stop the screaming and the chaos, to try and block out Blaise blinking up at her and smiling that stupid _fucking_ smile, like everything was going to be okay again. “But if your ship falls apart around us, don’t come crying to me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> <3 yall blow me away, honestly. 
> 
> ps: I don't normally do stuff like this, but I am at nearly a thousand (!!!!!) followers on tumblr. if you're not one of those thousand, i would love to see you there. partly because I think it's a great way to interact with the fandom. and also because, to be completely honest, my ego would LOVE it. ;D
> 
> (much love to nymphadoraholtzmann who is my enduring and loving beta/brainstormer/science pal, and also big birthday love to provocative-envy, who started me down this whole rare pair ship hell hole & percy/pansy specifically.)
> 
> ..... also........ sorry??


	4. Emergency

The ship was falling apart around her.

Pansy grit her teeth as the entire craft shook again, and she shut her eyes to listen more closely to the noises the engine was making. Something was creaking, and something else was hissing, and- _there!_ When a warp failed like that, you could almost taste it in the air. The alarm began to sound, muffled down in her quiet corridor, but present nonetheless.

Sometimes, Pansy hated that she was always right. 

“Motherfucker,” she mumbled, if only because that was the only way she knew how to deal with engines, even if she was nowhere near them. “Cocksucking mother _fucker_ ,” she added, now trying to focus her aggression on Ron, the stupid little red-headed weasel who hadn’t _listened_ to her because of a years old grudge. They were all going to die because he couldn’t get over _almost_ losing a friend.

Pansy took a deep breath and then sat up a little straighter - someone was coming down the hallway.

“Hey!” she called, as someone dashed past her cell. “Hey wait!”

The footsteps skidded to a stop and backtracked. It was someone Pansy had never seen before, and she narrowed her eyes suspiciously. How many gorram people lived on this boat? 

“Look, you have to tell your mechanic that he’s gotta check on the exhaust valve of the warp drive combustion chamber, okay?”

“What do you know?” the person responded, and Pansy nearly _screamed_.

“Maybe nothing,” Pansy hedged, narrowing her eyes. “But _maybe_ , this is just the start. It’s just a general error, right? So the problem could be anything. How much do you know about warp drives - the one in this ship specifically?” 

The man hummed slightly, biting down on his lip and shifting slightly back and forth. “Well, erm, not much. Engines aren’t really my, ah, area…”

“What was your name?” Pansy jumped at the chance.

“Neville,” the man responded, and clearly tried to straighten himself out a bit as he said it. An awkward boy hiding in a man’s body - or, perhaps, a man still struggling away from the awkward boy he used to be.

“Neville,” Pansy repeated, and nodded. She didn’t really _enjoy_ this, but she also had the vague thought that she didn’t actually want to die on this ship that wasn’t hers, surrounded by crew that weren’t family. “What do you do here, Neville?”

Neville frowned, looked around. The ship shook again, less violently, and he seemed to take comfort in this. Pansy, on the other hand, started to panic just a bit more. “I’m one of the researchers. Working on, erm, biology. Hydroponics, specifically. Trying to increase the rates that plants pro-”

“Great,” Pansy interjected, trying hard not to roll her eyes. “Okay, great. Plants, I can work with that. Sure. I don’t really have time to explain how warp drives work but look - think of it like this. You’ve got this special fuel, right, for the warp drive. And when it explodes, it _really_ explodes - that’s kind of how it gets us where we’re going. But the fuel can’t get too hot - that’s when it explodes. And, it lets off this gas, afterwards. Really nasty stuff. Corrosive, actually. Plants, metals, eats through everything. It’s usually okay in there, we vent it off really carefully, clean the gas and release it back as oxygen. The same way that, like, I dunno - I don’t know anything about plants, don’t trees do that shit? Just. Tell me you’re getting what I’m saying.”

The man nodded slowly. “Sure. Warp drives, chemicals, specially contained, not safe, we can clean the gas, it’s fine.” 

Pansy breathed a sigh of relief. Thank god. “Right! Great. Okay. So the problem is if the exhaust valve starts to break. It’s not very common, and most mechanics notice it with plenty of time to fix it up or replace it. But if there’s any part you want not to break, it’s the combustion exhaust valve. Because what happens then is that the gas leaks before it gets cleaned, and instead of going in the safe special container that cleans it, it just… goes wherever it wants.” Pansy paused for a breath, Neville was still nodding. “And then it starts to corrode things. It’s a vapour, okay? A gas? And it’ll eat away at everything in it’s path. Metal, flesh, whatever.”

Neville shuddered, and Pansy nodded in encouragement. “That, er, doesn’t sound very good,” the man admitted, and Pansy finally stood, moving to the glass.

“No. But it doesn’t matter that eventually it’ll melt the flesh from your bones and the walls off the ship itself. What matters is that we can’t control what it melts first, and there are just too many things in that room that can blow up with the wrong breeze on them for me to feel okay with the possibility that _that’s_ what’s leaking.”

Neville stepped back and Pansy pressed a hand against the glass. “Look. I’m just saying you _have_ to go check the coupling. Or get the mechanic to do it. Or tell your captain. It shouldn’t be hard to fix yet, before anything else breaks.” Pansy winced at what she knew she was about to do. “ _Please_ ,” she pressed, hating herself for doing it and knowing she had to anyways. “I don’t want to die a prisoner on your dumb broken ship, okay?” 

That snapped the illusion and Neville nodded once and then turned, and took off running in the direction he had been headed originally. Away from the deck, and away from the people who might be able to solve the problem. 

Pansy groaned, and looked towards her ceiling, and tried to decide if it was worth the only air they had left to swear.

* * *

Time crawled forward, and Pansy paced her cell. No one else happened down her hallway, and her comm didn’t let her connect to anyone. So she paced. 

And then, things started to heat up. First Pansy noticed that she was warm, but she figured it was the walking, so she stopped. Then, sitting on her bunk, she realized she was _hot_ , starting to sweat even though she was sitting still. It was such a gradual change that she only noticed because she was so focused on all the possibilities of what the change could be.

Unfortunately, with no one anywhere near her, there wasn’t much Pansy could do other than peel off her shirt, and then her pants, and sit. And wait.

And finally, when she was debating whether removing her bra and underwear would even make a difference at this point, the comm behind her sparked to life. “Emergency,” came a voice. A lilting accent that she recognized clearly as the Captain’s. “Could all personnel get your arses to the deck, immediately. Shut the fire doors as you go.”

The comm died and Pansy sighed. Forgotten. She would die first down here. Cooked alive in her own skin.

“Forgot to mention - please try not to panic, attempt to refrain from any ‘the world is ending' fucking, and if you have any fucking clue how to fix this I’d appreciate if you could maybe fucking _run_ here, ta.”

Pansy snorted out a laugh and then had to swallow to not overwhelm herself with the ridiculousness of the entire situation. She was going to die in a cell, on a ship that wasn’t even hers, in the midst of a problem she might be able to fix, while an incompetent twerp flitted around the engine room with, as far as she knew, his thumb stuck straight up his ass.

Glancing around the room, Pansy wondered if it would be less uncomfortable to try and hang herself with her bedsheets, rather than learn what it felt like to be cooked in a soup. She was so overheated though that the thought of getting up off the floor seemed like too much work.

And then, though for a moment she thought she was imagining them, Pansy heard footsteps.

“Pansy!” came the voice, and she sat up. There, outside the barrier, the all too familiar face of the one and only Percy Weasley. “Do you know how to fix this?” he asked, pushing himself through the barrier and reaching a hand down to help her up off the floor. Percy too had shed most of his clothes, and was in an undershirt and a pair of boxers. He looked ridiculous, and yet Pansy couldn’t stop herself from licking her lips at the sight of him. He was leaner than she was used to, especially compared to Marcus, and his pale skin was covered in tiny freckles. But there was a set to his jaw and a sharp look in his eyes and all she could do was nod.

“I can’t guarantee anything,” she admitted, letting Percy tug her through the barrier and following him at an almost run down the hall. “It could be something completely differently but…”

“The thing you were telling me about the other day,” Percy pressed, turning a corner suddenly and almost slipping, both of their bare feet slick with sweat against the polished floor. “Could that have caused this?”

Pansy bit her lip, though about it for a moment, and nodded. “This would be the least of our problems, if I’m right. The most immediate, yes. But I’d be significantly more worried about the fact that it points to a corrosive gas leak. Then again, with the temperature rising like this around the warp fuel cell, I suppose the explosion that would cause should it become unstable would obliterate us before we even noticed the corrosive effects on our bodies.” 

Percy stopped for a moment and looked over at her, looking almost horrified. “You’re… rather terrifying, are you aware?”

“I’ve been told,” Pansy retorted with a shrug. It was too hot for bitchy, too hot for attitude. If Percy could get her close enough to fix the problem though, it might not be too late.

By the time they reached the deck, everyone else was already present. Dr. Granger - _Hermione_ \- was the most dressed of all of them, in a loose flowing dress and soaked with sweat. Most of the men were just in their boxers, and Pansy noticed Neville, along with a dark skinned man with short dreadlocks and a portable external telecomm system, and the familiar face she had never thought she’d see again. He had a scar, she noted, on his forehead - a jagged cut. It must have been where he had been bleeding from when she had seen him nearly die. When Blaise had been shot. When her world shifted. 

“Look,” Ron was saying, hands waving through the air. “I’m telling you it’s a problem with the habitation system. Just because that’s not showing up on your schematic-” 

Percy cleared his throat and the room collectively turned towards him. Ginny and Luna were standing together on one side, standing excessively close to each other, the former in a very practical sports bra and hot shorts, and the latter in absolutely nothing. Pansy did her best to focus her attention on Oliver, who seemed to be looking at her expectantly.

“Have we checked the warp drive exhaust valve yet?”

Ron spun on her, his face flaming red - whether from the heat or from anger, she wasn’t sure. “I’ve already _said_ that’s not the problem!”

Pansy lifted a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose in her own frustration. “Right, but did you _actually_ check, or did you just assume you know better than me?”

“Well!” Ron snapped, turning back to Oliver. “Seeing as she’s _our_ ship, I think we know her better than some stowaway rich girl does. Besides,” he added, as if it answered the question exactly. “The warp drive safety light isn’t even on.”

Pansy couldn’t help her scoff and matching eyeroll. “Safety lights are for dudes,” she murmured, crossing her arms despite the difficulty with her slippery skin.

Oliver was watching this and, seeing as Ron didn’t have a retort for her this time, he jumped in. “I’m sorry, wait, what is this about the exhaust valve?”

Ron, clearly, didn’t want to miss another opportunity. “Look, Oliver. Don’t listen to her. For all we know this whole thing’s her fault - all started when _she_ got here anyways. She tried to trick Percy, see, wanted us to land to get some coupling looked at. That’s what happened to the Creevey’s ship, y’know? Picked up some girl, she tricked ‘em into landing. They lost right near everything, they did. What do you think someone like _her_ knows about an engine anyways?”

“Excuse me?” came a voice from behind them, the girl-Weasley again. “You saying girls can’t be good with engines, Ron?”

“Ginny,” he huffed, rolling his eyes. “You know that’s not what I- not _girls_. Just, just not _her._ ”

“Enough!” Oliver snapped, and his crew listened, turning towards their Captain with practiced ease. “Pansy. Explain this to me. What do you think the problem is?”

Pansy glanced at Percy, who was watching her with that same almost-expectant look on his face. The look like, maybe, just maybe, he believed her. “Like I _said_. I think it’s the warp drive’s exhaust valve. Between the combustion chamber and the scrubber - it sounded to me like the engine was off kilter and the coupling there tends to get stripped. The scrubber’s much stronger metal, see, so it’s just too much going on all at one point if the engine’s gone a little off. Which is an _easy_ fix, if you check up on it and replace it when it needs it. Your mechanic here didn’t seem to think it was needed.” 

Oliver nodded at this, clearly thinking it over. “And? What could happen, if it’s not fixed?” 

Pansy shrugged, looking around at the group. They were all watching her intently and she suddenly felt uncomfortable. So many people on one ship. So many lives. Taking a deep breath, she focused on her anger with Ron, on all the awful ways they could die. “Well. I guess your worst case would be that the main fuel cell gets too hot - that’s what the ship’s trying to fix, diverting all the coolant to the engine room. But if the warp coolant is busted, it doesn’t matter. And if the cell gets too hot, then you’ve got a massive explosion in the middle of your ship. Could take out anybody around for, well…” Pansy thought, then grimaced. “A long way.”

She paused, thinking over her best course of explanations. “But, it’s not the coolant that’s the problem, see? It’s rare you’d just see the coolant break and nothing else. Nothing volatile there, just a simple system. No, the problem - like I _said_ \- is between the combustion chamber and the scrubber. Which means the gas isn’t being filtered properly into the scrubber chamber, so it’s just being let out loose into the engine room - into the ship. You’ve got a highly corrosive gas now just floating around, which is probably what caused the problem with the coolant in the first place. So even if we went in and just fixed the coolant, it would break again. Or something else would. And sooner or later, the gas would melt the flesh clean off our bones - though I suspect it would get something else in the engine room first. Too many things there that could explode, frankly.” 

Someone cleared their throat and Pansy turned towards the sound, eyes widening a bit at the small doctor. “And you think you can fix this?” 

Pansy bit her lip. “Well. It’s, uh. It would have been a lot easier to fix, you know, _before_ the corrosive gas started leaking but. Theoretically, as long as you’ve got the right parts, yeah. I could fix it.”

Oliver nodded, clapped his hands together. “Well, good, so-”

“Hold on,” snapped the doctor, and Oliver closed his mouth. “Are you safe in there? Corrosive gas, exploding fuel cells? What’s the risk here?”

Pansy shrugged. “I go and try and fix it, and maybe I can’t do it and maybe we all die. Or, I don’t do anything, and then we _definitely_ all die, and I’m happy to go through each of the specific ways this problem could kill us all. In detail. We can place bets. Frankly, I’d hope it’s an explosion, because corrosive gas isn’t exactly a pleasant way to go.”

The room fell silent for a moment and Hermione nodded, clearly satisfied with the answer. “I’ll come with you,” came another voice, and Pansy felt Percy step up beside her.

“What?” she snapped, turning towards him. “That’s the stupidest fucking thing I’ve heard you say, Weasley.”

Percy, however, was unfazed. 

“He’s not wrong,” Oliver conceded. “Not smart for you to go alone in case you need another set of hands, or something happens in there. You both go. Hermione,” he turned towards the doctor. “What do you have in the way of breathing masks and safety gear for these two? Last thing we need is them melting their lungs up inhaling this gas.”

Hermione paused a moment then nodded. “Definitely. I can do that. Come on, you two. Let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> <3<3<3<3 thank you thank you everyone for reading and writing!
> 
> a quick note or two about upcoming content: this story DOES feature smut (which now also features some pretty light bdsm-y themes). so if you're not into that... I maybe would not get too invested, okay?
> 
> as always: big love to my beta nymphadoraholtzmann! i love love hearing all of your thoughts and feelings on the story, so please feel free to comment down below or hit me up over on my [tumblr!](http://hexmionegranger.tumblr.com)


	5. Engineer

Pansy took a breath and looked one last time between the engine room door and the man beside her.

“This could be a suicide mission,” she reminded him, as she adjusted the straps on the gas mask that Hermione had provided.

“Yes,” Percy agreed, as though she’d told him it was supposed to rain that day. “But this is my best friend’s ship, and I’m not entirely keen to watch everyone I care about die if there was a chance I could have saved them.”

Pansy noted that Percy hadn’t actually called The Phoenix _his_ ship, but Oliver’s. Which was strange in more ways than one, but not important enough to deal with at this exact moment. She filed it away with the other things she was learning about him, hoping she'd have a chance to figure out the mystery. Looking back over her shoulder at him, Pansy decided they were about as ready as they could be to face the situation. The ship hadn’t had much in the way of protective gear, and they had each struggled into a set of thin coveralls. Not really much use considering _how_ corrosive the gas actually was, but it would hopefully buy them some time.

“Right then,” Pansy mumbled, glancing up at the ceiling and remembering the stories her father had told her, about the old gods and the world before them.

And then, she opened the door.

Hot no longer seemed to suffice to describe the engine room itself. The air was so thick and heavy it was oppressive, and Pansy was at once thankful for her breathing mask and suffocated by it. Her coveralls were already damp with sweat down her back and she tried not to wince at the feeling of the fabric sticking to her skin. Pansy squinted into the room and made for the engine, not able to stop her sigh of relief that it was nearly identical to the Adder’s, if a bit larger. She had assumed it would be, based on the feel of the boat and what she'd been able to figure about the model, but it was nice to know she was right.

Overall, the engine seemed to be in alright shape. Clearly the ship’s mechanic wasn't wholly terrible or incompetent. Just slightly lazy and a bit defensive. Pansy went for a nearby toolbox first and dug out a pair of long gloves made of thick material - they called it _Dragonskin_ , though she was pretty sure it was just tightly woven Kevlar. She tried to push up one of her sleeves, but the smallest coveralls they’d found on the ship were still too big for her and the sleeves were getting in the way of the gloves staying up on her arms.

Finally, Pansy huffed out a sigh and a muttered _fuck this_ , and shrugged out of the top of her coveralls. She tied the sleeves around her waist out of the way and pulled the gloves back on. 

“Uh,” Percy interjected, and Pansy realized she’d almost forgotten he was there. “You _are_ aware that we’re in the room with the _corrosive gas_ , yes?”

Pansy rolled her eyes, turning to the engine and dropping down on her knees to get a better look at it. “We’re all dead anyways if I don’t get this fixed. And what does it matter to you if I end up a little corroded? I’m just your fucking _prisoner_ , anyways.”

Even with the gloves the engine was hot to the touch, and Pansy bit down on her lip to stop from wincing audibly at the feel of the metal under her skin. Everything in her brain screamed _not good not good it shouldn’t feel like this_ and she followed the sensation through the engine until her fingers skimmed the area she was looking for.

“Motherfucker,” she mumbled under her breath, shutting her eyes for a moment in pure frustration. “Sometimes I _hate_ being right,” she added, turning to glance over at Percy. “Right - since you bloody well insisted on being here, at least make yourself useful. Wrench,” she demanded, pointing towards the toolbox near her feet. 

Percy, at least, was good at following orders.

Pansy fell into a rhythm quickly. It felt like she was _home_ again, humming metal under her fingertips and the beating heart of a ship in her hands. The heat of the room around her and the noise of the engine faded into the background as she worked, every so often directing Percy to get something for her and then falling back into comfortable silence.

And then, thankfully, the alarm stopped. Pansy let out a sigh of relief and shifted too much to the left, leaning her upper arm and ribs against part of the engine that she was used to being cool. 

Percy jumped into action when she shouted, reaching out to grab at her wrist. Pansy jerked away from him and let out a shuddering breath before shaking her head. “Not done yet,” she mumbled, trying to keep her voice light and breathy. Her skin was starting to itch, she realized as she pulled her brain back a bit from the engine in front of her. _Too long_ , she chided herself. _You’re taking too long!_

Pansy glanced back at the man behind her one more time. Percy looked more uncomfortable than she had ever seen him, but his face was set solidly in determination and he didn’t look like he was about to make a run for it, which was oddly reassuring - in it's own way.

“Almost done,” Pansy promised him, and turned back towards the engine once more.

The last piece to be done was the hardest - one mistake and she could damage the valve connector entirely. That wasn’t something you could fix in the air, and Pansy wasn’t entirely sure they were close enough to a planet or colony to fix a problem that big before the gas took care of them all. She bit down on her lip and reminded herself that she knew what she was doing, that she had a knack with engines and a careful touch.

And then finally, _finally_ , it was done. Pansy dropped back and away from the tangle of metal, leaning back until she was lying on the slowly cooling ground of the engine room and tugging the gloves off and away from her hands, letting them drop beside her. Nothing perceptible had changed, and it wasn’t a permanent fix. But there was no more corrosive gas leaking into their ship, and the coolant was flowing freely through the engine again. The ship alarm wasn’t sounding and it seemed like the entire habitation system had returned to its normal operations.

“All fixed?” Percy questioned, reaching down unceremoniously to pull her to her feet. Pansy, suddenly tired, just nodded in response. She let Percy pull her out of the room, aware that they should probably not spend longer than necessary in there until they were sure the air had cleared, and watched as he shut the heavy door behind them.

“Come on,” he coaxed, tugging the gas mask off and away from his face, and then reaching forward to pull Pansy’s off as well. “Better go inform the Captain that his ship isn’t about to blow itself up any time soon.”

Pansy snorted softly at this, and lifted a sweaty hand to push a few strands of hair away from her face. “You should know better than that,” she mumbled, unable to summon any derision or disdain into her voice. “You can never _really_ know if a ship is planning on blowing itself up or not. Just, hope when it does it wasn’t something you could have stopped.” 

Percy, despite himself, laughed at this, and Pansy wondered if perhaps the gas masks hadn’t done their jobs very well. She was starting to feel a little lightheaded herself, and she let Percy lead her back to the main deck without any other complaints.

* * *

 Most of the crew was waiting for them when they returned. Oliver jumped to his feet from the floor as the door opened, and the rest had turned towards the two rather quickly. A few of them had clearly left - the pilot and commtech guy were both gone, presumably both to continue the jobs that couldn’t simply be abandoned in case of a crisis.

 _Hopefully_ , Pansy thought sluggishly, _not to call the authorities on us_.

“Well?” Oliver pressed, when neither of them immediately spoke.

Percy nodded. “Pansy was right,” he said simply. “And she fixed the problem.”

The crew turned towards her and she nodded once, and then again as an extra measure of reassurance. “Not a permanent fix,” she admitted. “The engine’s still off-kilter, but I want to wait till she cools down a bit to look for the problem there. You’ve got some other parts that will need replacing sooner rather than later, and I’ll want to assess the damage again once we’re sure the gas is cleared out from the room to make sure it didn’t cause any more problems.”

Ron didn’t seem entirely thrilled to hear this, but he also didn’t immediately jump up to say something negative, which was a bonus. 

“And,” she continued, figuring she might as well. “We’ll need to talk about the replacement parts you’re missing - I used up the last few of some of them and you’re missing a few others that are pretty important to have on board.”

Oliver turned towards her and nodded, something like pride in the cut of his jaw and the way he was standing. “Thank you,” he said, voice sincere. “I honestly am not sure where we’d be if you hadn’t ended up on our ship, Ms. Parkinson. We owe you a favour, and - I imagine - our lives.”

“ _Engineer_ Parkinson,” Pansy snapped, levelling her best glare at the man. “If you’re going to make me do the work, then I deserve the title as well.”

Oliver laughed at this and nodded. “That you do, Engineer Parkinson. Right, crew, let’s-”

“Hold on,” Percy interjected, finally seeming to look at Pansy closely for the first time since they left the room. “Where’s Hermione? Still in the medbay?”

Someone responded that she was, and he nodded. “Right. Sorry, Oliver, you’ll have to go on without us. Pansy needs to see the Doc.”

Pansy turned and opened her mouth to let him know that _actually_ she was feeling completely fine, when the room around her span too quickly. All at once, as her adrenaline finally dropped off, the pain in her arm and chest and the rapidly cooling ship were too much to handle, and before Pansy could even say that she maybe _didn’t_ feel very good at all, the room went dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof. I know I'm a little late with this one - sorry friends! I've decided to blame the fact that it's a full moon and also I've been working a lot of opens which just wipe me OUT. I also like to have a comfortable cushion of chapters ahead and I really wanted to wait till I finished 12, but I'm struggling a bit and decided all of your encouragement is much more useful for inspiring me than my dumb brain!!
> 
> Anyways. All the thanks & love to nymphadoraholtzmann my beautiful beta who also helped with the science-y stuff of all this! because I studied history and gender studies and I? have no idea how engines work. (why am I writing this fic??? who knows???? not me!)
> 
> <3 hopefully I'll have the next chapter a little sooner for yall. :) as always, encouragement / love / screaming (...preferably positive?) welcome down below!


	6. Adrenaline

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *** explicit adult content ahead! ***
> 
> ! **SPOILERS WITHIN!**! <\-- mouse-over for where to stop reading!

Pansy blinked. The room around her swam slowly into focus and the first thing she noticed was a pair of bright blue eyes peering down at her. And then, the edges of said eyes wrinkled slightly, and her stomach tightened oddly - the man hovering over her was _smiling_.

“Good to see you’re still with us,” he remarked, slowly pulling back and away from her, and Pansy nodded rather dumbly. With his head no longer blocking hers, she could tell right away she was in a part of the ship she had never been in. The lighting here was different, warmer and more yellow, and as she looked around she realized that she was in a small bedroom. There was a dresser and a fully functional comm-unit - one with a clear outside connection. She had a small ladder that she assumed led to the deck of the ship, and a small porthole with a covering made of something soft and flowing.

Pansy pushed herself up to sitting on the small bed - also with a cover made of something far softer than she had gotten used to in her time in space - and then gasped as she felt pain coursing through her ribs.

“What the fuck?” she mumbled, looking down at the offending body part, only to notice that most of her chest was covered in thick white bandages. Her left arm as well was wrapped securely, and she frowned as she tried to figure out why everything _hurt_.

Percy, watching the look of confusion on her face, clearly decided it wasn’t worth waiting for it all to come back to her. “You burned yourself,” he explained, shifting slightly from where he was standing so that he could see her better. “On the engine, when you were working. And the gas in the room had weakened your skin barrier so, unfortunately, Hermione thinks it’s going to take quite some time to heal properly.”

Pansy winced. “Right,” she sighed, remembering leaning up against the engine, searing pain, and the thought that she didn’t have time to care if she ended up burned. “Anything else I should know about? Gas eat up any of my brain cells?”

Percy blinked. “Of course not,” he stated, so matter-of-factly she wondered if he was actually trying to joke. Then he shifted again and Pansy realized that in the small confines of her room, he could barely stand up fully without scraping his head on the top of the ceiling.

“You weren’t really designed for a ship like this, hmm?” she mused, and Percy’s brow drew down into a frown. “Oh, just sit down would you? I’m uncomfortable just looking at you.”

Finally, Percy nodded and sat down carefully on the side of her bed. Something about how close he was to her, and the way he smelled, and the small smile that was still tugging at the edges of his lips sent Pansy’s stomach tumbling over itself, and she swallowed hard.

 _That_ wasn’t a good sign. Pansy tried to pull her brain back, to Marcus - her closest friend, her latest lover. Marcus, who might actually be dead right now, though she was trying not to think about that possibility. But, as much as they’d had fun together, she had known the whole time that something wasn’t right about them together. Maybe Marcus’s heart had never been in it. Truthfully, her’s never was either. But this, this stomach tumbling heart pounding _something_ , this had never been there at all. 

And now.

Pansy darted her tongue out to flick over her lips and couldn’t help but notice that Percy’s eyes followed the path it made across her skin. “I don’t suppose,” she began, flicking her eyes to the ladder and the door that sat above it. “You and that doctor aren’t actually together, are you?”

At this, Percy _did_ laugh, a short incredulous sound, and then shifted his body slightly closer to hers. “Absolutely not,” he confirmed. “If you can believe it, she’s sleeping with Ron.” It was Pansy’s turn to let out a sharp laugh, and she shook her head.

“No way,” she laughed. “God, I would pay to see that one fall apart.”

And then, their eyes connected again and Pansy let out a quick breath, and before she could stop to consider whether or not it was a good idea, she reached out for Percy. He, clearly similarly not thinking through the consequences, reacted and the next thing she knew she was flat on her back, with Percy hovering above her, blue eyes dark and pupils blown.

“ _Fuck_ ,” Pansy breathed out, sliding a hand up to tangle into his red hair as he rested a palm flat on the unburned part of her abdomen.

“Yes,” Percy responded, scanning his eyes over her face before leaning down to press a hot kiss against her ear. “That’s the plan.”

Everything fell apart as Pansy arched her body up towards his, trying to pull his loose fitting thin shirt off over her head as she did so. It took them each a moment of struggle to shed their few layers of clothing, and then they each paused, breathing and watching. Percy was in a thin pair of boxer-style underwear, and Pansy was in her own thin panties, the med-wrap still covering most of her torso.

Percy seemed to be _thinking_ and Pansy bit her lip, and decided if she let him do _that_ , he might put a (rightful) stop to their actions. “Don’t think,” she mumbled, tugging his head down and pausing as her lips brushed his. “Just, focus on me.”  

And then their lips met and time stopped. Percy’s hands slid around her body and Pansy arched up into him, pressing her chest against his and revelling in the feel of solid muscles and the slight stubble scattered over his chin. She let her nails rake down his back and smiled at the involuntary shudder he let out, and then wrapped her legs up around his hips to pull their bodies closer together.

“Fuck,” Percy mumbled, clearly caught off guard by the action, and then he ground slowly down into her and drew a moan from her lips. “Didn’t realize you… wanted me so badly,” he mumbled, and Pansy swallowed as she realized that she might have underestimated him, just a bit.

“Didn’t realize you,” she murmured, tipping her head back to allow his lips access to her neck, “had it in you.”

Percy laughed against her skin, but it was a dark laugh - heavy and heady and it sent another rush of heat and wet down through Pansy’s core. “That right?” he purred against her skin, and then bit down softly. Pansy gasped and pressed harder against him, desperate for friction, suddenly aware of how long it had been since someone had touched her. “Thought I was a stuck up virgin, hm?” 

Pansy nodded against him, sliding a hand down his body to wrap around his solid erection, silently pleased with the weight of him in her hand as she pushed his underwear off. “Some goody-two-shoes,” she confirmed, squirming as he kissed his way gently down her body, pausing to press a gentle kiss to one of her breasts, still covered by the gauze. “With no idea what… he was doing in the bedroom…” Pansy knew she was egging him on now - but she was also starting to wonder what it would be like if she could get him to snap.

“Oh, how I’ll enjoy proving you wrong,” Percy mumbled, and slid down her body and away from her wandering hands, tugging down her underwear as he went.

Pansy nearly screamed when he pressed his lips down between her legs, and she had to fight to keep her body from arching entirely off the bed as he dragged his tongue over her sensitive skin. Marcus had never been interested in this, had always just been a quick in-and-out kind of a guy. Which was fine, mostly, except Pansy had forgotten what it felt like to have someone kiss and suck and tease. There was something brilliantly vulgar about the sight of his head between her thighs, arms wrapped up around her legs to hold her still.

Percy’s fingers found her next, teasing at her lips and then pressing into her. _Long fingers,_ she remembered, and had to turn her head into the pillow to stop from screaming as he stroked them over a particularly pleasurable spot inside of her.

“Percy,” she whimpered, twisting her hips as best as she could in his grasp. “Need to… want to…”

Percy only seemed spurred on by her rambling, a model pupil as he learned what she liked and repeated it. He stroked his fingers again, circled his tongue, and before Pansy realized what was happening she was crashing over the edge, body bending and stiffening as she let out a high pitched moan and convulsed under his touch.

“You taste so good,” Percy mumbled against her, the vibrations sending aftershocks down her legs. “So tight when you came on my fingers,” he added, biting softly on her thigh before climbing his way back up her body. “I bet it will feel brilliant when you come on my cock.”

His matter-of-fact sentences should have been a turn off, the way he spoke about her like she was something he was learning instead of experiencing. But Pansy couldn’t help it, she wanted him to learn her body, wanted him to discover exactly what it was that made her tick.

“You have a…filthy mouth…” she breathed out, breath coming in pants as she shook slightly under him.

“And you,” Percy mumbled, pressing his lips against hers, sliding his tongue between them and letting her taste herself on him. “Look like a goddess when you come.” 

Pansy looked up at him for a moment, frozen by the tone of his voice, and then she dug her nails into his arms. “Shut up and _fuck me_ , Weasley.”

Percy laughed again, and in a single smooth motion pressed inside of her. Pansy shut her eyes and inhaled deeply as he stretched her, sliding against her overly-sensitive skin and pausing as he filled her completely.

“Put that mouth of yours to good use and say my name,” Percy instructed, dragging his tongue over the shell of her ear, and Pansy couldn’t help but nod.

“ _Percy_ ,” she encouraged him, and he pulled back and then thrust into her again in one smooth motion.

“Fuck,” Pansy mumbled, nearly incoherently. “You-”

Percy growled softly against her skin and bit down on her shoulder - enough to draw another gasp from her lips.

“ _Percy_ ,” she tried again, when he wasn’t moving enough for her liking.

“Good,” he responded, kissing her skin as he picked up a rhythm. Their bodies slid against each others and Pansy relished in the sensation, focusing her attention on the way his fingertips skimmed her skin, the kisses and licks and nips against her neck. When she caught his eyes with hers she committed the sight of him to memory - cheeks flushed, eyes dark and half lidded, stern and serious and coming undone around her. 

“ _Percy,”_ she tried again, shifting her hips against him, desperate for more. He complied, moving a talented hand between their bodies to tease at her clit. “Oh my _god_ ,” she moaned, twisting more underneath him, feeling herself pulled closer to the edge.

“That’s it,” Percy coaxed, shifting to rest his forehead on hers so he could watch her. “Say my name when you come for me again,” he added, never slowing pace.

Pansy could only nod. Here, like this, she’d say anything if only it meant he wouldn’t stop. Not when she was so close, _so close_.

And then Percy snapped his hips and shifted his thumb and the coil inside her stomach clenched and snapped and she _shouted_ his name as she tumbled over the edge.

Percy ducked his head and caught her lips in another searing kiss and then he shuddered and moaned softly against her, stilling as he found his own release.

They lay together for a long moment, Pansy catching her breath and wincing when she realized she definitely should have been more careful with her injured skin. Finally, Percy slid out of her and dropped down onto the small bed next to her, and they fell into a comfortable silence.

Until, of course, Pansy remembered what she had just done.

“Shit,” she said with a sigh, and turned towards him. “Look. While that was, truthfully, nothing short of incredible… I don’t know if we should-”

“You’re right,” Percy interjected smoothly. “Frankly, I think that was a… a simple case of pent up adrenaline.”

Pansy tried not to be offended. “Right. What with the nearly dying and everything. And, besides, I’m going back to my own crew as soon as I can. I just don’t think it would be smart to, er-”

“Make this something it isn't?” Percy finished, sitting up with a nod. “Very astute thinking. And, no offense to you, but it certainly doesn’t make sense for me to have...relations… with a pirate such as yourself.”

Pansy narrowed her eyes, scooping up his shirt and shoving it into his chest. “First I’m a runaway, then I’m an engineer, now you’re calling me a pirate?”

Percy was halfway to the door when he looked at her again, one brow raised. “Please. The fake-innocent act looks gaudy on you, Pansy. You saved the people who matter to me, I won’t hand you over to the Ministry. But, that doesn't make you a lawful citizen, and we would both be fools to pretend that a life like yours has no consequences.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a special one for flintwoodandco who posted [Golden](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11718888) \- an incredible flintwood royalty / angsty / sweet / fluffy masterpiece. It is nothing short of absolutely fucking amazing. If you like flintwood (and like, even if you don't) - gogogo read it! 
> 
> Much love also to my beta & ever present support system nymphadoraholtzmann!
> 
> And of course to all of you, for sticking with me on this ridiculous journey. :)


	7. New Plans

No one came to get her in the morning. Pansy awoke late, her body stiff from the (various) exertions of the day before, and spent a minute wondering if she was still a prisoner. When the hatch of her room slid open freely, she took it as a good sign and headed down the deck towards the mess room.

Pansy counted the rooms as she walked. She’d figured the ship was larger than she’d anticipated while she’d worked on the engines, and was pleased to confirm her suspicions were correct. Not only were there enough rooms for the ship's current crew, but there were at least four or five more, that she could figure.

When she finally reached the dining area, she was slightly off put to find most of the crew sitting there - though a certain redhead was conspicuously absent. Clearly they’d been waiting for her, because when she walked in conversations dropped off and everyone turned towards her.

Pansy frowned slightly and crossed her arms - holding back the pained grimace as she forgot her injuries yet again. “What?”

Oliver smiled and waved her over to the table. “G’morning,” he greeted, gesturing at Luna who disappeared and returned with a plate full of food. “Glad you could join us." 

Pansy narrowed her eyes but sat anyways, unable to resist taking a few bites of toast from her plate. She wondered briefly if Luna even made the bread from scratch - it was delicious. “Y’know, just because you don't have me in a cell anymore doesn't mean I’m not your _prisoner_ or whatever,” Pansy snapped, frustrated by the way they were all looking at her.

“Well actually,” Oliver interjected, “that's what we wanted to speak to you about. You helped us out, so it’s the least we can all do to drop you off somewhere of your choosin’, I think.”

Pansy considered this, trying to see if she could find a way to get what she wanted. A drop off wasn’t particularly helpful, not when her crew was awaiting trial on a Ministry planet and her ship was likely still floating through deep space. “Well,” she began, trying to think quickly. “Yes. You owe me that at least. But, you’re also in need of some replacement parts. I’d be willing to provide you with a list of what you need and show your mechanic a few things about how to keep this ship in the air, for a small price of course.” 

Ron, sitting further down the table, huffed but didn’t comment. Oliver frowned, and then sighed. “Well. I appreciate the offer, but I’m not sure if we’re your best bet if it’s money you're after. We’re a research ship and we’re actually, erm… flat broke. I don’t think we could even afford the parts you’re talking about.” 

Pansy hummed softly as she thought about this, rolling it over in her mind. And then the idea hit her and she couldn’t stop the sly grin that crossed her face. “Even better. Without those parts, your ship and your crew is dead in the water. I don't think your engine can hold up more than a month, two at the most, without some serious maintenance. And if you run into any other problems in the air - which you will - then you'll be absolutely and truly fucked.”

“Your point is?” Ginny cut in, leaning forward. Pansy grinned over at the girl - she had a feeling that Ginny was the type of person you wanted on your side.

“My point is that I think we’ve got ourselves a potential arrangement that could be quite beneficial.”

Oliver frowned slightly, crossing his arms as he watched her. Pansy turned to stare him down, wondering if she’d need her to spell it out for him. Finally, he sighed and glanced around the room at the crew sitting at the table. “Out of here, the rest of you. Nev - I’ll stop by to talk about the plants later today, alright? Lee, see if you can get in touch with Bill - I have a feeling we’ll be stopping by the Cottage sooner rather than later. Luna, let me know if there’s anything you need before we set off.”

Once the crew had cleared out of the room, leaving just Oliver, Ginny and Harry behind, Oliver turned back towards Pansy. “Alright. Let’s hear your offer.” 

Pansy raised a brow at the remaining three and what it meant that they were who was left. Luna and Neville were both researchers on the ship, and for all she knew Lee might have been one as well. Oliver must have assumed her suggestion would be potentially illegal, if he was making sure to keep his scientists out of it. Probable deniability. Ginny was clearly game for more than the rest of them, and Harry needed to be there - an out-of-the-loop pilot was the surest way to run into trouble.

“My crew,” Pansy began, unable to stop her eyes flicking to Harry and the scar that cut across his forehead, before forcing herself back to the matter at hand. “Are currently awaiting trial on Diagon, I’m assuming. A trial that I imagine will be in no way fair. Now, ignoring the question here of morality,” she paused, raising a brow to wait for protests, and then nodded in satisfaction, “I think this might work out for both of us. You’re in need of parts, and your mechanic is in need of a bit of, shall we say, training. I need my crew back, and we’ll need a ride to our ship.”

Ginny cracked her knuckles, and her and Oliver seemed to have an entire conversation with their eyes. “Let’s say we could help you get your crew back,” Oliver suggested, raising a brow. “That still doesn’t solve our little monetary problem. And it’s a mighty big risk for us, could lose our standing with the Ministry if we’re found out. I’ve got more than just myself to look out for here, I’ve got five good scientists who don’t deserve to have their work blacklisted just to help out some… scavengers." 

Pansy nodded in understanding, and then decided it was worth seeing if her other suspicious had been correct. “I’d hate to jeopardize your research, Wood, only. The thing I can’t really understand is how you’d be so out of money you couldn’t afford repairs in the first place, hm? As a Ministry research ship, you should be able to dock in any approved repair bay and have the balance covered, no?”

Oliver shifted slightly, and before he had a chance to respond, Pansy continued. 

“Unless, that is, you’re working on research that the Ministry wouldn’t approve of? After all, you’re quick to call me a scavenger, but my ship had already been cleared by the Ministry long before you got there - no reason for a research ship to stop by at all. And you all jumped pretty quick when you found out I had a bounty out on my head.” Harry deflated visibly, and though Oliver and Ginny stayed strong, Pansy knew she’d hit something on the head. Which was lucky, because she didn’t exactly have a backup plan.

“D’you have some way of getting us enough money to cover these parts then? And whatever cost we incur rescuing your crew - if you want it done right, that could run you up a bit of a bill,” Oliver pointed out.

Pansy nodded. “Mmm, I’d thought of that too. So here’s my offer. You help me get my crew back. We were on our way to a job with a _very_ comfortable pay out - so I’ll let you tag along and take a fair cut of the profits there, enough to cover what you need and pay your crew, plus some extra for your research. Shouldn’t be too hard of an operation, especially with a few extra hands. Then I’ll make sure you’ve got the parts you need, and I’ll try to knock some sense into your mechanic while I’m at it. Fair enough?”

Oliver and Ginny recommenced their eye movement conversation, with Harry included. “While you’re on our ship, you’re part of our crew,” Ginny stated, turning back to Pansy. “I’ll make sure you’re welcome in the engine room if you want, or you can help out with the research. I think there’s some of it that might be up your alley. Room and board on our ship don’t come free.”

“Fair enough,” Pansy agreed, pushing down on the table to stand, keeping her face as neutral as possible despite her body’s protest.

“And,” Oliver cut in, “if any of these missions get too dangerous for my crew, we’re out. We’ll do what we can for you, but I’m not signing us up for a suicide mission.”

Pansy reached a hand across the table towards the Captain, and he slid one of his own into her small palm, shaking it firmly. “It’s a deal,” Pansy confirmed, and then stepped away from the table. 

“Welcome to the crew, Parkinson,” Ginny stated cheerfully, and Pansy didn’t stop her eyeroll in response as she turned away and left the room.

* * *

Despite the fact that Pansy was now a temporary member of the crew, she still wasn’t entirely sure what to do with herself aboard the large ship. While she was itching to get back in the engine room and poke around a bit (she no longer trusted anything their mechanic had done, and wasn’t entirely keen on repeating the events of the day before any time soon), she figured she’d give Ron a day or two to cool down before she tried anything. Pansy had a vague idea where things on the ship were located, and when she glanced up she realized she’d instinctively walked towards the hallway of research labs.

It made the most sense, as of places to go. The bridge deck and mess hall were clearly out, and even the thought of seeing the pilot again sent a cold wave of dread down her spine. Unfortunately, Pansy also wasn’t exactly keen to run into Percy again just yet. Although they’d clearly agreed that it had been a one-time casual thing, it would probably be better not to immediately pick up whatever odd tenuous strand of friendship they’d had before.

Just in case. 

Which led Pansy to peering through a frosted glass door to make sure there was no red behind it, and then ducking into the first lab that she saw. Something was clearly on her side that day, because the room was scattered with a huge assortment of parts and pieces of ship engines, and a variety of electrical and technical parts that she’d never even seen before. She let out a breath and moved over to look more closely at one of the tables, picking out the parts she could recognize and narrowing her eyes as she tried to work out why anyone would have this particular set grouped together. 

“Hello,” came a voice, and Pansy stood up immediately, turning to the door and halting as he hand went straight for her usual (currently empty) knife hiding spot. The doctor, Hermione, was standing in the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest and her eyebrow raised, amusement dancing across her face.

“Oh,” Pansy mumbled, glancing around. “Sorry, is this your-” and then she paused again and frowned, turning back to Hermione with her own raised brow. “Is this your lab? I thought you were the Doctor.”

Hermione let out a laugh at this and shook her head, dropping her arms heading further into the room. “This is a research ship. If we all only had one job we’d need a hell of a lot more people than we can afford, I’d think.”

Pansy remembered the empty rooms and nodded. Well, that made sense. “I wouldn't have guessed you’d be into all this,” she gestured around the room, “tech stuff.”

Hermione shrugged one small shoulder and moved to stand beside Pansy, glancing down at the table of parts. “I’ll admit that it’s not my specialty, no. I’m a biologist, by trade - before medical school of course. But,” Hermione paused and furrowed her brow slightly. “I was more needed here, for now. And I’m always interested in expanding my knowledge base.”

“Right,” Pansy mumbled, wondering if she would be the only one on the ship without a fancy coding from a prestigious school. She couldn’t help but hear her father's voice, ‘ _shame you aren't very bright. Hardly worth it to send you off to some expensive institution just to come back with your head even more empty than it is now._ ’

Well. She was smarter than their mechanic, at least.

Drawing her attention back to Hermione, Pansy couldn’t help her curiosity. “Is it just you in here? Seems like a big lab for one person.”

Hermione shook her head. “Oh no. This is actually usually Percy and Lee’s lab, like I said - we just need the extra help in here. The med-bay’s all mine though. And I usually have some space in the bio lab, though… it’s a bit of a different atmosphere in there than I’m used to.”

Percy’s name twinged something in her stomach and she tried to shake it, looking around. “Well, I didn’t mean to bother you. I’ll, uh, let you get back to work.” She was desperate to ask what the work _was_ , but she also didn’t want to stick around any longer and chance running into _him \_.

Ducking out of the lab, Pansy was just contemplating walking around the ship until she found the gym - or where they stored the alcohol - when she heard voices bouncing off the walls. She panicked for a minute and then slipped into the second research lab.

The first thing she noticed was the humidity, and she winced at the damp feeling that settled immediately into her skin.

“Oh! Hi, Pansy,” someone said, and she turned to find the man she’d met the day before - Neville - smiling at her from a plant he was bent over. 

“Hi,” Pansy returned, trying not to feel so distinctly uncomfortable with the free use of her first name. Marcus’s warnings screamed in her brain and she fought them back as best as she could. “Is this your lab?”

Neville nodded absentmindedly, drawn back into a series of vines that seemed to be tangling around his fingers as he worked.

There was a rustling of leaves and then Luna appeared out of nowhere, an apple with a large bite taken out in her hand, juices dripping down her palm.

“And mine,” she chimed in, chancing a smile at Pansy and then stretching out her arm. “Hungry?”

Pansy shook her head no. “ _You’re_ a scientist too?”

Luna smiled, eyes twinkling in a way Pansy wasn’t sure she liked.

“Oh, yes. I work with Neville, sometimes, but I mostly have my own...projects.”

Pansy nodded dumbly. She hadn’t even known that women really went into science, not so many of them at least. She’d been so sheltered on her home planet, locked in the idea that girls were good for arts and music and perhaps writing a romance story or two. Convinced that her own form of intelligence was a weakness because of her gender, and then thrilled to meet a group of men who valued her for it. But here, seeing what these other women had gained so freely, she wondered what she had lost from growing up in such a backwards place.

“Right,” she finally conceded. “What are you two working on down here?”

Luna’s small smile burst into a grin and she stepped forward to take one of Pansy’s hands, tugging her towards a table. “Neville’s speciality is agriculture, he’s working on redeveloping the standard hydroponics procedures to make them more accessible. Specifically for long-term space travel, and planets who have less access to water.”

Pansy nodded, noting the hundreds of types of plants growing from the walls. Some were things she’d never seen before, and she had to admit the work he’d done looked impressive. She’d only seen a handful of hydroponics set ups in her time, and none of them were on ships. Even the ones she’d seen planet-side weren’t this abundant or diverse. “What about you?” she questioned, getting lost in the science and knowledge and forgetting that she probably shouldn’t care so much.

Luna shrugged. “A little bit of this, and a bit of that. Right now I’m helping Neville to splice and alter seeds to improve growing conditions - atmos systems can be quite… troublesome… for some plants.” 

It was interesting, Pansy noted, that both Luna and Hermione had made remarks about working with others outside of their usual areas of expertise. Clearly, there was some reason for this crossover, something prompting them to work harder on certain projects than others. But Pansy couldn’t put her finger on it yet, and she wasn’t sure she’d be someone worth telling.

From outside, it sounded as though the voices had gone, and so she decided she had spent enough time hiding out in what equated to a greenhouse, and turned to go. She paused at the door and looked back to the others, feeling an odd sense of… something that felt suspiciously like belonging. “Thanks,” she said, swallowing the discomfort of it all, “for showing me around a bit.”

“Come back any time!” Neville called from his spot, and Luna gave her a silly grin, that looked innocent and yet all too knowledgeable to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> <3 sorry I'm so late everyone!!! I know I said I'd update on the weekend (... ie last sunday) but my week just got away from me a bit. :( I also had hoped to finish the chapter i'm currently writing but I just haven't had the time this week. but I didn't want to make you wait any longer!!!
> 
> much much love to my beta & constant supporter/inspiration/plot fixer/everything tbh, nymphadoraholtzmann. also, if you're into rare pairs, PLEASE go read her latest drabble, [Lay It On Me](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11838819). SO SO SO SO GOOOOOOD.


	8. Amends

Pansy spent most of the rest of that day in her room, flicking through channels on her modcomm and trying to pick up any signal that might give her some insight into her ship or crews conditions. She punched in individual numbers despite the useless of said endeavour - she doubted any of them would still have their comm devices on hand, and even if they did none of them would ever answer a communication from a ship with Ministry numbers.

Even still, she had to try.

She also ended up skipping dinner. By the time mealtime rolled around, she was so exhausted - still worn out from the near-death experience and incredible shag - that the thought of dragging herself down to the mess hall and then trying to make some sort of small talk with the crew seemed like a worse fate than death by starvation. And besides, it wasn’t as though she had never gone hungry before. Once, they had gone nearly a week with nothing but stale bread, because Theo had miscalculated the distance between two jobs and they could only barely afford fuel, let alone food.

Either way, by the time the following morning dawned, she was hungry. And feeling finally rejuvenated, after a solid night’s sleep. Just as she was pulling on one of the tunics that had been left suspiciously in the closet in her small room and contemplating heading for the kitchens, there was a small knock on the door.

Pansy blinked, frowned. Used to a ship where no one ever knocked, or a cell where no one visited, she wasn’t entirely sure what to do. “Come in, then,” she called, tugging the shirt slightly more into place. Whoever had provided it was a bit smaller than she was, and it was a tad tight. All of a sudden, Pansy felt conscious of the fact.

When a pair of long legs descended down her ladder, her stomach flipped. Percy was carrying a plate loaded up with food in one hand, and had a bag slung over his other shoulder. He dropped down fully into her room and then shifted awkwardly, clearly doing his best to avoid looking at the bed. He wasn’t able to stop his eyes from flicking down over her body, and Pansy wondered for a moment if he was curious about how her burns were healing or just mentally reliving their short-lived tryst.

“I noticed that you weren’t at dinner last night, and thought you’d be hungry,” he offered, passing her the plate of food that he’d brought.

Pansy wasn’t sure whether to be touched or frustrated. Either way, she _was_ hungry and the food looked delicious. “I was going to just go to the mess hall myself,” she explained, taking the plate and then settling down cross legged on the bed to eat.

Percy dropped into the chair in front of her comm and shook his head. “Take my advice and avoid that whole part of the ship in the hour or two after meal time." 

Pansy frowned. “Why?” she couldn’t help but ask, taking a bite of a freshly baked blueberry scone and trying not to moan at how delicious it tasted.

He raised a brow, but responded anyways. “My sister and Luna are…” he paused, clearly choosing his words carefully. “Not entirely discreet with their affection.”

“Oh,” Pansy replied, and then the weight of his words settled in and she coughed around her scone. “ _Oh_ , right. Well. Wouldn’t want to… you’re right. I’ll just stay down here.” 

Something that resembled a smirk tugged at his lips and he shrugged. “You’re not entirely safe here either, unfortunately. They can both be quite… loud, and neither seem to care that they’re not the only ones on the ship. The consequences, I suppose, of too much time in space.”

Pansy remembered, then, Draco and Theo, and she winced - only slightly. “Right. Well. Thanks for the food, anyways. I think I’m going to-”

“Here,” Percy stated, handing her the bag that he’d carried down the ladder as well. “I figured that you’d probably want those back. I’m sure you understand, of course, why I took them in the first place. But, as it seems like you’re crew for now, I don’t exactly have any right to hold onto your belongings.” 

Pansy bit her lip as she tugged open the bag and let out a breath of relief as she spotted her knives, carefully laid in the bottom of the bag. When she glanced back up at Percy, she realized he was watching her strangely, and she ducked her head to avoid whatever conversation he thought they might have. “Er. Thanks, I guess, for bringing them back.”

Percy nodded once, and then without another word turned for the ladder.

It was only when the hatch door had dropped shut after him that Pansy realized she still had no clue what to do with herself, and no idea how to get closer to getting her crew back. But at the very least, she had her knives, and that was what mattered for now.

* * *

Halfway through the afternoon, Pansy decided she was fed up with sitting around doing absolutely nothing and she headed for the engine room. Ron was there, sitting down near the engine and looking carefully at something in front of him, his brow furrowed and his arms crossed.

Pansy cleared her throat and then stepped a little further into the room, and Ron turned, sighed, and then stood up.

“Look,” he began, and Pansy frowned but gestured for him to speak. “I’m not… fuck, well, obviously I am a little pissed that you noticed something about my engine from a _cell_ that I couldn’t see standing in front of it. And, I’m not really thrilled that it nearly killed all of us.”

Pansy nodded at him to go on, but he didn’t, just shrugging awkwardly.

“Was that supposed to be an apology?” she snapped, narrowing her eyes at him. “How about, ‘oh, sorry I doubted you, assumed you were trying to hurt us, and didn’t take a look at something that could have _prevented this whole fucking situation in the goddamn first place?_ ’”

Ron shrugged, and shuffled from one foot to the other, inhaled, exhaled. “Yeah,” he agreed. “I am, you know. Sorry. But, what would you have done, if someone dropped onto your ship and started going on about the engine and then the engine actually broke? You’re telling me you’d think that person was actually trying to help you and not fuck over your whole crew?”

Pansy sighed, and slumped slightly. He, unfortunately, wasn’t wrong. “So, maybe we just… forget it? And we can take a look at the engine and… I dunno… make sure we’re on the same page?”

The redhead took a breath, and then nodded and reached a hand out. “I still don’t know if I trust you,” he admitted.

Pansy took his hand and couldn’t suppress her smirk. “I still think you’re a moron.”

* * *

Oliver found them three hours later, hunched over the engine. Pansy was pointing at something and Ron was shaking his head, and just as Oliver was about to intervene to cut off their bickering, Ron snorted out a laugh and pointed to something else instead. Pansy huffed and rolled her eyes but shifted over, and Oliver almost didn’t want to interrupt. Except, they had more work to do.

“Well, wouldn’t have expected to see you two workin’ so well together,” he commented, and Pansy’s head snapped up, eyes slightly narrowed in frustration.

“I wouldn’t exactly say we’re working _well_ ,” she grumbled, shooting a withering glare at Ron. “Considering _this_ numbnuts still thinks his soldering is actually going to keep anything together.”

Ron rolled his eyes, but he was smiling enough that Oliver wasn’t actually worried about the two of them trying to kill each other in their sleep. “Well, just because you’re a stuck up bitch who can’t appreciate the sheer amount of shit I’ve got to solder down here - not all of us have a fancy state of the art soldering iron you know-”

Pansy huffed clearly at this. “Like I have _just told you_ , it’s not about the _iron_ you absolute berk, it’s about the way you use it-”

Oliver cleared his throat and then both turned to face him. “Good. Right. Well. I’m not entirely sure what’s happening here, but, if you’re both just about done? Pansy, Ginny and I would like to chat to you on the bridge deck about a few things.”

Pansy nodded immediately, stepping back from the engine and wiping her hands carefully on a small rag that she’d tucked into her pocket. Just because she was a mechanic didn’t mean she had to be perpetually dirty and covered in grease, or at least, that’s what she’d always told Blaise when he laughed at the action. At the very least, it had been a productive afternoon. Her and Ron had figured out at least four or five things that needed replacing sooner rather than later, and she’d got him going on a few maintenance projects that desperately needed tending to. But she’d also noticed a few things he’d done that she hadn’t seen before, and truthfully she was hoping she’d get back to the _Adder_ sooner rather than later, if only to try some of them out herself. 

Either way, she followed Oliver out of the engine room without a second glance at Ron, her mind so caught up in the engine she barely noticed that when they reached the bridge deck. 

“Right,” Oliver began, dropping into a seat next to Ginny and gesturing for Pansy to do the same. “So, we’re almost a hundred percent sure that your crew’s being held on Diagon.”

Pansy fought the urge to roll her eyes. “Obviously,” she muttered, but nodded for him to continue. 

“Which is good news and bad news. We have a… contact… who lives on a small planet called Shell-CT that’s near Diagon. He’s going to look into a way to get us onto the planet. But, once we’re there we’re more or less on our own.” 

Ginny jumped in before Pansy could complain. “So, we’ll need to come up with a good way to get your crew _off_ said planet without arousing suspicion. And I figure you and I can look over some of the planet prints and see what we can come up with.”

Pansy couldn’t stop the way her eyes widened at the sound of this. “You… you have prints of Diagon? Do you know what those are _worth_ ?! How did you even _get_ something like that?”

Ginny shrugged, a secretive smile tugging at her lips. “Let’s just say we’re well connected. Now, do you want to look at the prints or not?”

Pansy sighed, bit back a scathing remark, and nodded. Ministry prints were so well guarded that nearly no one in the galaxy, at least not in the circles she was used to, had ever set their eyes on a pair. They were also notoriously impossible to copy or replicate, and tied to both a ship _and_ captain. Useless because they couldn’t be traded or given, and priceless because of the information that they held. To pass up a chance to look at a set of Diagon’s prints would be _absolutely_ nuts, no matter what her feelings were about the people who had them.

Pansy glanced back at Oliver to make sure he wasn’t about to jump in that under no circumstances could someone like _her_ look at something like _that_. When he didn’t, she took another breath, turned towards Ginny, and let her lips tug up into one of her small, careful planning smiles. “Right then, Red, show me what we’re working with.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry i have been the MOST mia this week! i was going to post a chapter before I went away on vacation and I just ran out of time... I'm in the process of moving across the country this week so you probably won't hear from me again for a few more days but I'll be back when I can!! hope this tides you all over <3
> 
> (much much much love to my best beta/person, nymphadoraholtzmann!!)


	9. (Blame it on the) Alcohol

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *** explicit adult content ahead! ***
> 
> ! **SPOILERS WITHIN!**! <\-- mouse-over for where to stop reading!

Two days later, they arrived at Shell-CT.

Pansy spent most of those two days in the engine room. While she was technically crew now, she also wasn’t entirely sure what to do with herself. As curious as she was about the engine parts and computer pieces scattered across Percy’s research room, she still wasn’t sure what page they were on and didn’t really want to push it any more than was necessary. Besides, he had made it quite clear that she wasn’t the type of person he normally would associate with, and Pansy didn’t have the time to unpack whatever was going on in _that_ can of worms.

Either way, down in the hull of the ship with the faint hum of the engine, warm metal buzzing softly under her fingertips, was the closest Pansy felt to _home_ on the whole boat. Ron could be more than annoying, and they weren’t entirely a ‘good team’, but for the most part they didn’t talk much, just worked in silence. Pansy had long finished up all the most necessary maintenance, but there were a few things that she thought were especially important to be done to every ship, and so she worked on those while Ron worked on other things. 

Not perfect. Not home. But, it was _something_.

But of course, just as Pansy was finally starting to slip into a routine, to get used to the way the ship worked and the crew interacted, everything changed again.

Oliver called them all up to the docking bay before they landed and Pansy stood back near Lee and Luna and Neville. Ginny and Ron both seemed anxious, and even from behind Pansy could see the tense muscles in Percy’s shoulders. She almost wanted to lean over to Neville and ask him who they were seeing that could cause so much of a stir, but the bay was so quiet she was sure she’d be heard.

The ship clicked into the landing pad and the cargo bay door released with a loud sigh, lowering itself down slowly towards the planet. As soon as it settled on the ground, a figure was boarding the ship, and Pansy watched with only thinly-veiled surprise as the man - tall, muscular, _redheaded_ \- wrapped his arms around Ginny and spun her around in a large hug.

The bay was so quiet, Pansy very clearly heard him say “hello, lil sis” as he did so.

Interesting. Yet another Weasley. Pansy remembered the feeling she’d gotten from Percy before, that there was another brother that set him on edge. And, sparing a quick glance to him, she noticed that he definitely _seemed_ on edge. Something told her though that if there were this many Weasley’s, it wouldn’t actually be that surprising if there were even more of them.

The new Weasley had moved on to hug Ron, and was now on his way over to Percy. Pansy couldn’t help but watch as he opened his arms and Percy instead stuck out a hand, clasping one of the other man’s and shaking it instead of accepting the hug.

Percy didn’t seem like the most physical person, clearly, but there was a tension amongst all of them that felt different, and she couldn’t help but wonder what it was.

Oliver had found his way over now and was patting the redhead on the back, and Pansy returned her attention to the newcomer. She had learned quickly that watching people’s interactions with each other was a great way to learn things about them that they might otherwise not share with you. And, knowledge that someone wasn’t willing to share was exceptionally important - at least in her line of work.

“How’s the Mrs?” Oliver was asking when Pansy tuned back in.

The man’s face broke into a grin and he shrugged, in that carefree way that men did when they were getting fucked regularly. “Brilliant,” he admitted. “She wanted me to invite you all to come in for dinner, if you’ve got time for it.”

Oliver’s eyes suddenly flicked over to Pansy and then the other man’s followed suit, and he raised an eyebrow at her.

“Is this our newest crew member?” The man asked, and then broke away from Oliver to walk towards Pansy, extending a hand towards her. “Nice to meet you. Bill Weasley,” he introduced.

At least, Pansy thought as she slid a small hand into his, her observation skills were not suffering from the amount of time she was spending with this entirely too open group of people. “Pansy,” she stated simply. “Not a crew member,” she added, and then smirked slightly. “Captive turned business partner might be a better way to put it.”

“Right then!” Oliver stated, too loudly. “Sounds like Fleur’s got a feast cooking up for us, who’s coming?”

* * *

 

Pansy almost didn’t go. In fact, she’d managed to push her way back to the edge of the docking bay, and they almost had completely left without her when Luna turned back and realized she was still hanging behind. Luna had crossed her arms then, and stood there until Pansy huffed and caught up to them.

“I don’t entirely think I’m welcome,” she mumbled to Luna and Neville, still near the back of the group as they followed the crowd onto the new planet. It was _bright_ here, and warm, and the landing pad was clearly a personal one. They were next to a large body of water that washed away at the shore, and a small house sat near it, just off in the distance. Pansy had never seen so much _space_ , so much open air and fresh grass and empty land. She’d only been on a small handful of planets other than her own. For the most part, people seemed to live on colonies now. Large space stations, some big enough for their own atmospheres and support systems. Some were just a mish mash of ships that had docked together and then never left, slowly gutted and transformed over the years. Others, like  _Hogwarts_ , had been built for the purpose and were more suited to long-term living. But Pansy was a lucky one, and had grown up on a planet. One that had taken well to the terraforming process - not all of them did, of course - and had fresh water and clean air. But London-XW was large, and _full_. There were houses and apartments packed on every street, only a few small parks scattered where, for whatever reason, buildings couldn’t be. London was teeming with people, most of them wealthy and happy.

Shell was different. In the five or so minutes it took them to walk to the cottage, Pansy didn’t see another person. Which, in itself, was worrisome. A planet like this, that seemed to have breathable air and even water, to be so empty? There was something else going on and Pansy couldn’t suppress the odd feeling that tingled down her spine at the thought of it all.

When the reached the house, a slim woman was standing in the doorway waiting for them. She was gorgeous, pale skin and blonde hair, elegant and happy. She reminded Pansy of the girls from London, clear in their wealth and comfortable in their skin. Unfortunately, Pansy had left that life long behind, and she couldn’t stop herself from thinking that she hoped this girl would at least be tolerable to spend time with.

“My favourite crew,” called the woman, her voice thick with another accent that Pansy had never heard before. She pulled many of them into hugs as they entered, ushering them into a house that looked far too small to fit all the bodies. When she reached Pansy, she smiled and extended a hand to shake one of Pansy’s. “I’m Fleur. It is good to ‘ave you on our small planet,” she welcomed, and Pansy shrugged uncomfortably and nodded as she slipped in. 

The only chair left at the table was between Percy and Neville, far and away from where the other Weasley’s were sitting, and Pansy dropped into it. There was a reason, of course, that Percy was back here and not with his family. His hand was clenched tightly around his fork, and Pansy narrowed her eyes at the sight. While Ginny and Ron had both clearly relaxed, talking brightly to Bill about a few of the things that had happened recently, here was Percy, far away and tense. Pansy, despite herself, wanted to know why, and started to wonder just what she’d have to do to figure it out.

* * *

 

The food that Fleur provided was delicious. Nearly as good as what Luna had been making for them, and Pansy ate her fill more than happily. Even better, though, than the food, was the wine that Fleur passed freely around the table. She called it ‘Elf Wine’, and Pansy had never heard of it, but it was sweet and refreshing and far too potent. All of them drank too much, though Pansy did her best to keep one eye on Oliver - who at one point pulled Bill aside to, hopefully, discuss their plan - and the other on Percy.

Finally, Oliver declared that it was time for them to head back to the ship, and the crew - wine-drunk and silly with it - began to stumble from the house. Ginny and Luna were wrapped around each other, arms tangled as they leant against each other and giggled their way back to the ship. Hermione and Ron were close as well, fingers intertwined and arms gently swinging. Lee and Neville and Harry were discussing something with intermittent bursts of laughter, and Pansy was just about to leave the house as well when she noticed that Bill had pulled Percy aside, and she paused in the doorway, too curious to stop herself.

“Look,” Bill was saying, one hand clasped tightly around Percy’s shoulder, and Pansy wasn’t sure which one of them he was keeping steady. “Perce, it’s not your fault, okay? Just because it was on your ship-”

Percy shook his head aggressively. “You can’t say that, Bill. You weren’t there, you didn’t see what happened. It-” he paused, let out a breath that shook his entire body. “It was my fault, and I’m dealing with it the only way I know how to.”

“I know you think you’re doing ‘the right thing’, Perce, but you don’t have to cut us out like this,” Bill continued, tightening his grip as Percy tried to pry himself away. “We’re family. I know we can’t fix it, can’t make it right but. We can go through this together. You don’t have to suffer by yourself.”

“I-” Percy’s voice caught and choked and he _tugged_ his body away from Bill, stumbling as he did so. “I’m _fine_ , William. You’re not… not our _mother_. Just. Just leave it, alright? I’ll be fine.”

And then Pansy had to turn and rush from the house, realizing that she was now quite obviously eavesdropping on a _very_ private conversation. She rushed to catch up with the rest of the crew, only stumbling a few times in her heels on the uneven planet’s surface, and managed to end up on the ship only a few steps behind Neville. Percy hadn’t reached them yet and she let out a probably premature breath of relief that he hadn’t noticed, pausing in the docking bay to catch her breath as the others filed out and back towards their rooms.

Only, she leaned up against a wall and paused there for entirely too long, her head swirling with alcohol and questions, her eyes closing against the bright lights of the ship. And then there was something in front of her, warm breath ghosting over her face and the heat of another body radiating against her. Pansy tugged her eyes open only to find Percy in front of her, hands almost casually resting on the wall on either side of her head. His own eyes seemed a little blurry, a little off focus, and his cheeks and ears were tinged red from the alcohol.

Pansy swallowed.

“Weasley,” she mumbled, and he shook his head, leaning forward to rest his forehead against hers.

“Just Percy, please,” he almost whispered, his usually tense body sagging forwards slightly against hers. “I know we… we’re not… _anything_ ,”

Pansy swallowed again, and she couldn’t stop herself from lifting her hand up to slide around the back of his neck, feeling his warm skin and remembering too clearly what it had felt like to have his body against hers.

“Shut up, Percy,” she mumbled, flicking her tongue across her lips as she realized his plea for what it was. “Do you want to fuck me again, or do you not?”

He hesitated for a long moment, but Pansy could feel him hardening against her and she decided that she’d deal with the consequences of their actions in the morning. It was the wine, she rationalized, and the odd way Percy was acting. Something to do with the fact that he was _off_ tonight, and that she was getting more than a little desperate to have another body pressed against hers.

“Yes,” he whispered, his lips already trailing across to her ear, biting down on one of her lobes and causing her body to squirm under his. 

Percy moved his face back in front of hers and Pansy hesitated for a moment. “Just,” she mumbled, biting down on her lower lip for a second and forcing herself to say it. “Don’t kiss me. We’re not… we’re just… it’s just sex,” she finally settled on. “I’m not your… your _anything_.”

Percy responded by moving to bite down on the soft skin of her neck and simultaneously sliding one of his hands up the front of the skirt that Pansy was wearing, pulling a gasp from her lips at the motion. “Very well,” he mumbled against her skin, shifting then to wrap his arms around her and lift until she had to wrap her legs around his waist to keep herself up. “D’you want me to fuck you right here, then? Where anyone could walk in?”

Pansy shifted against him, groaning as he ground slightly against her with the movement and remembering how good he had been at this. Even through the haze of alcohol her brain was sifting through, and whatever it was that he was trying to deal with. His words were sinking in and she paused to think about it. Let him come back to her room? Worse - go to _his_?

“Right here,” she whispered back, hoping the wine had hit everyone else as hard and that they’d all just gone to bed. Percy had been the last one in and closed the door behind him, after all, and there was no _real_ reason for anyone to come back to the docking bay. The thought of someone walking in on them, though, sent a shiver down her spine and she decided that it was definitely worth the risk.

Percy had already gotten to work, and Pansy felt him slide one of her blades out of her thigh holster, then slip it up to cut away the flimsy fabric of her underwear. It was objectively a terrible idea, but the sight of him cutting the fabric away so nonchalantly had her mouth going dry, and the sound of the knife hitting the deck barely even phased her.

“Percy,” she mumbled, letting her head drop back against the wall behind her as he skimmed his fingers across her once again.

“So wet,” he mumbled against her ear, teasing his thin fingers across her lips and enjoying the small mewling sounds she made at the motions. “All this for me?” he questioned, and Pansy squirmed and nodded, biting her lip to prevent herself from saying more than she wanted to. “Tell me,” he added, and Pansy could feel him shifting slightly, clearly undoing his own pants. “Tell me what you want me to do to you.”

Pansy groaned softly and tried to pull her brain together, to decide how to ask him for what she wanted. “Want… want you to fuck me,” she finally settled on, and he laughed against her.

“Clearly,” he retorted. And then he slid a finger inside of her and while Pansy shivered and moaned at the feeling, it wasn’t enough. “Like this?” he asked, and she wanted to smack him.

“You’re such a tease,” she huffed out, grinding forward against his fingers, desperate for _more_. “Just… put your cock inside me,”

“Such a dirty little mouth,” Percy said, lips brushing over her ear as he spoke. And then his finger was gone, and Pansy would have complained except then he was sliding into her and she had to inhale deeply to keep from crying out. Just like before, he stretched her blissfully and Pansy felt her brain go blank as he settled himself inside her.

“And now?” Percy prompted, his voice nearly teasing.

Pansy shifted her hand further down the neck of his shirt and dug her fingernails into his skin, noticing his muscles had lost a good deal of the tenseness she had seen in them earlier that day. “Now… I want you to _fuck_ me.”

Percy groaned against her and complied, sliding from her body and then pressing back in. The wall behind her wasn’t a smooth surface and Pansy knew her back would remember the feel of the texture behind her, the way his body felt as he fucked her into the wall. Pansy thought for a minute that she could let herself get lost in this feeling, of Percy holding her up and sliding in and out of her, of hot breath on her ear and a warm body against her own.

And then, Percy shifted them, untangling her legs and setting her down before turning her so she was facing the wall. “There,” he whispered, as he slid back into her from behind and then moved one of his hands around to stroke over her clit. “Now I can touch you, make you scream my name…”

Pansy whimpered and let her head fall forward, bracing her hands on the wall and pushing herself back against him as best as she could. Time seemed to slow and blur and all Pansy could focus on was the motion of his body against hers, the blissful sensation of him sliding against her walls and his finger toying with her clit. At one point, she swallowed hard and turned her head slightly so she could look at him.

“Don’t… want anyone to hear…” she murmured, and Percy grinned almost maliciously. His other hand snaked around her and he curled his hand across her lips, covering her mouth completely. Pansy shuddered against him at the feeling. The entire thing was too much to handle, how small she felt with his body covering hers, the feeling of him preventing her from making any noise. She had never felt so… so _submissive_ before, and she was almost worried with how easily her brain settled into it with a contented _yes_. 

And then, Percy started to pick up the pace, and Pansy groaned into his hand, letting him muffle the noise and focusing on breathing out of her nose. His other hand sped up as well, and Pansy felt her abdomen tightening. Percy groaned into her skin and bit down softly at the point where her neck met her shoulders and all of a sudden something inside of her broke and Pansy screamed his name into his hand as she tumbled over the edge, her entire body tightening and shaking.

Percy thrust into her a few more erratic times and then he moaned and stilled. Slowly he pulled his hand away from her face, sliding it down to squeeze one of her breasts almost appreciatively before he slid out of her and stepped away.

Pansy stayed against the wall for a few more minutes, catching her breath and riding out the aftershocks of her orgasm. Percy too stood for another few moments, tugging up his trousers and then raking a hand through his hair. “Well,” he finally announced, clearing his throat carefully. “See you tomorrow, I suppose?”

Pansy, sated and tired and enjoying the pleasant mix of pleasure and alcohol in her brain, nodded. “Tomorrow,” she agreed, and then pushed herself away from the wall and slipped past him to make the trek back to her room.

Tomorrow, they had to focus on getting her crew back. On fixing the problem so Pansy could leave this ship and be done with all of them - Percy included. But tonight, Pansy planned to curl up in her bed and fall asleep, thinking about the redheaded man and the way he fucked her like she _mattered_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry sorry sorry I am so bad at updating lately! I haven't had much time for writing or updating, but I'm trying to jump back into it for you lovely people (and for my own sake - this story is stuck in my brain and I can't get it out!!)
> 
> Much much much love to nymphadoraholtzmann for being my beta, my plot fixer, my brainstormer, my cheerleader, and my best friend. <3


	10. Ranks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *** explicit adult content ahead! ***
> 
> ! **SPOILERS WITHIN!**! <\-- mouse-over for where to stop reading!

Pansy awoke the next morning and let out a comfortably sated sigh. And then, she remembered exactly _why_ she was so comfortably sated, and had to bite back a scream of frustration.  

_So much for ‘one time thing’, you idiot_ , she thought to herself, as she let out a huff and dragged herself out of bed. The only small problem, of course, was that Pansy was now well aware of the redheads actual skills - it wasn’t a one time fluke, and he was still excellent despite both of their intoxication. Despite her rather pounding headache, Pansy still didn’t actually regret the actions of the night before. 

_Except_ , she reminded herself, _what if he wants more now?_  

But it seemed like Percy had been just as on board with the sex-only thing as she was, and that - at least - was a positive sign. 

By the time she made it to breakfast, she had resolved with herself that it was certainly not going to happen again. At least. She wasn’t going to seek it _out_ again. Besides - her primary focus was still, as always, getting her crew back. That had to happen sooner rather than later, and Pansy was hoping to be off this ridiculous research ship. So, really, it wasn’t like it was going to be a… _ongoing problem_ or anything.

Probably.

The breakfast table was nearly empty when Pansy arrived, and the few occupants around it all seemed to be worse for wear, heads low and barely any chatter amongst them. Percy wasn’t present and, once again, Pansy decided it was probably for the best.

“Good morning!” she called, in her best fake-chipper too-loud-and-bright voice. It was one of her favourite activities, when the boys had gotten a little too friendly with their vodkas, to push past her own hangover exclusively to make them miserable. 

Neville grunted something that sounded kind of like ‘hello’ in response, and no one else moved.

“Well, aren’t you lot pathetic,” she added, clapping her hands loudly. “Come on, a little wine can’t have done you in this bad? And here I was thinking I was on a ship with-”

“Ugh,” Ginny huffed from down the table. “Shut _up_.”

Pansy snickered. “No fun at all, the whole lot of you. Can’t even insult me properly.”

Unfortunately, Pansy’s own head had started to pound in earnest now and the thought of trying to goad the rest of the ship on seemed too exhausting to contemplate. Instead, she let the room fall into an almost comfortable silence as she loaded up her plate. The crew sat together for a little while, and just as Pansy had started to think she might go have a little nap, Oliver appeared.

“Right, up and at em. We’ve got work to do today, you lot,” he chastised, dropping down into a chair beside Pansy and flashing her a grin that registered in her mind as somewhat mischievous.

Pansy looked over at him, and her heart leapt just slightly as she realized what he must mean. “Today?” she asked. 

Oliver nodded enthusiastically. “You betcha. Right, the rest of you-” Oliver glanced around the table and paused for a moment. “Just a normal day, got it? Nev, Hermione, Luna, business as usual.”

Hermione was already opening her mouth as if to protest, but Oliver shot her a look that cut her off rather effectively. 

“This isn’t your place,” Oliver added, slightly softer, and smiled at the three scientists. “Just because my ship isn’t exactly on the straight and narrow at the moment doesn’t mean you lot have to ruin your futures.” 

“Oliver,” Luna began, carefully, but he shook his head.

“One day,” he added, starting to shoo them away with his hands. “You’ll all realize that this is a terrible idea and go off and join some respectable operation somewhere. Right? And when you do, I don’t want anything getting in your way. Now go on, you’ve all got work to do.”

Luna leaned over to place a quick kiss on Ginny’s cheek, and Pansy overheard a muttered ‘ _don’t be an idiot_ ’ as the blonde left the room. Pansy glanced around at the remaining crew members. Oliver, Ginny, and Lee. Pansy had a suspicion that Ron was still asleep, though she wasn’t entirely sure if that was true for Percy and Harry as well. For some reason, they didn’t seem the types to be missing for something this important.

Still. That wasn’t what mattered now, and Pansy turned to Oliver in anticipation, ready to hear his plan.

“Right,” Oliver began, clearing his throat and turning to Pansy, a wicked grin tugging at his lips. “How do you feel about _balls_?”

Pansy nearly spat out her tea.

* * *

“I still don’t understand,” Pansy huffed, as they paused outside of a large set of double doors and she smoothed her hands across the front of her dress for probably the tenth time so far, “ _why_ I have to pretend to be your date.” 

Beside her, Percy let out a small huff thick with frustration but laced with laughter. “Because Oliver thought it would be best for our cover. Besides, I can’t simply show up to a Ministry gala _alone_ , can I? And Bill had two tickets - no use wasting one.”

Pansy shrugged as though she didn’t know he was perfectly right. No one showed up to gala’s on London alone. “Still,” she protested, almost petulantly. “You could have brought… I dunno, Hermione, or something.” 

Percy shot her a look that almost seemed to scream ‘ _I know you’re not that stupid_ ’. “No,” he said, simply. “We’re already jeopardizing enough for this… endeavour. We won’t hand our best scientist to the Ministry on a silver platter.”

Taking one final breath, Pansy glanced back up at the door and then reached out to slip her arm through Percy’s. “You’re lucky,” she said, deciding that things had gotten entirely too heavy for a moment, “that I clean up so well.”

She was _expecting_ him to laugh, or roll his eyes, or shove her playfully like Marcus always did when she wore heels. She was _not_ expecting his tongue to dart quickly across his lips, his eyes to flick appreciatively over her silk-clad body, or the deepened edge to his voice when he responded, “I certainly am.” 

Pansy had to swallow the bubble that rose in her chest and tried not to think about the heat pooling in her abdomen as she reached out and pushed the door open into the unknown. After all - there was no more time for this… _thing_ she had with Percy. Soon she’d have her crew back, and Marcus, and she could put this… infatuation out of her mind for the last time.

* * *

The party was _loud_. That was the first thing Pansy noticed. Second was the crowds - she hadn’t seen so many people in one place in so long that she had almost forgotten what it was like to be _surrounded_. Her eyes flicked the room quickly, and she had to swallow a shudder and the urge to run. Instead, she tightened her fingers around Percy’s arm and let him step just slightly closer to her.

“Wow,” she couldn’t help but whisper, as she took in the beautiful gowns and tables piled high with food. “Are those _strawberries_?”

Percy laughed softly beside her. “They’re quite famous on Diagon,” he murmured near her ear, and was about to add something else when they were interrupted.

“Commodore Weasley!” Called a booming voice, and a man stepped out from a small group of people to approach them. “What an unexpected pleasure to see you this fine evening.”

“ _Commodore?_ ” Pansy hissed, snapping her head quickly to the side to shoot a glare at Percy as the gears in her mind span and clicked slowly into place. “You never told me that you - that you _worked_ for the Ministry!”

“Not now,” Percy snapped back, shooting a stern glance in her direction. The man was almost in front of them, but Pansy couldn’t help herself.

“Commodore,” she added, with a slightly put-off huff. “Next thing you know you’ll be telling me you… you’ve got some Ministry ship and a wife and kid stashed away on some fancy moon.” 

“Pansy,” Percy said again, his voice low and nearly dangerous. “Not. Now.”

Pansy swallowed another emotion or two but managed to get in one last ‘ _this isn’t over_ ’ glare before the man reached them. She glanced up as he shook Percy’s hand, and decided to play it quietly for now to see where this went.

“Admiral Shacklebolt,” Percy greeted, formality slipping into his tone, shoulders straightening imperceptibly. “So good to see you again. I tried to come to your own gala but I was unfortunately rather far away when I received the invitation. We simply could not have made it on time.” 

“Yes, well,” Kingsley brushed it off. “That’s quite alright, son. Frankly, I wasn’t aware that you knew Cormac particularly well?”

Pansy glanced towards the front of the room where a blonde man in full General’s gear stood surrounded by a small crowd, clearly telling some story about some battle or another. She didn’t recognize him herself, but she supposed that the gala was in his honour.

Percy managed a small, obviously pained, smile. “Yes, well.”

Kingsley seemed to be expecting Percy to say more, and when he didn’t he turned towards Pansy instead, extending a hand. “And so lovely to see you’ve brought such a beautiful date with you, Percy. Kingsley Shacklebolt, at your service.”

Pansy tugged her best demure smile across her face and let him take her hand. “Nice to meet you as well, sir.” And then she froze, because she realized with a sinking sensation that she absolutely could _not_ introduce herself by her own name. And she hadn’t really expected to speak to anyone.

Luckily, Percy intervened. “This is my… girlfriend. Penelope.” 

Pansy winced internally but nodded quickly. “Penelope… Clearwater.”

“Well,” Kingsley said, clapping his hands together and then gesturing around the room. “I hope you two enjoy yourself. And Percy?”

Percy glanced over, raised an eyebrow as Kingsley’s voice when serious and the man levelled him with a calculated, careful look. “We miss you out here, Weasley. Despite what happened… you were still one of our best. Whenever you get sick of missing out on all the action on that research boat, you just let me know.”

Percy pressed his lips together but nodded, and then Kingsley was gone.

* * *

“So,” Pansy said, as they drifted off towards the back of the room away from Kingsley. “Are you going to tell me what the actual fuck that was all about, or-” 

And then one of his hands wrapped around her forearm. Before Pansy had a chance to pull away she found them both in a small bathroom, her back against the closed door, his body against hers and one of his hands across her mouth. “You nearly blew our cover,” he hissed. 

Pansy struggled for a second against him but had to stop when she realized the problematic effect of her body - in such a thin piece of fabric - pressed so tightly against his. Finally he moved his hand and she narrowed her eyes at him slightly, trying to push aside the haze of arousal that was descending on her brain and focus on the fact that he had _lied_ to her.

“I knew you were a scientist,” she retorted, “but I wasn’t _aware_ that you were a _soldier_. Commodore with the Ministry. Is this all just some… some elaborate scheme to have me arrested?”

“In case you haven’t noticed,” Percy responded, “I might have the title, but I’m certainly no Commodore at the moment.”

“At the moment,” Pansy repeated, and Percy tightened his grip on her hip to the point that she wondered if she’d bruise. Again. “Stop trying to distract me,” she chided.

Percy, to his credit, loosened his grip slightly. “You’re insufferable.”

Pansy shrugged. “You’re not entirely pleasant yourself, you know.”

“What’s all this about?” Percy fired back. “Are you nervous about the plan? Is there something that you didn’t tell us that going to get us caught?”

Pansy shook her head, and wondered if it was worth it to just say it. “Not…” she paused, swallowed, and closed her eyes. “Not used to so many people. And it’s not that I don’t think your crew is… _capable_ , but. They haven’t exactly given me any reason to trust that they can actually pull this off. I just…” she fidgeted slightly under him and let out a huff of a breath. “I’m just stressed.”

For a moment they stood in silence, and then Percy licked his lips again and he slipped his hand down, finding the slit that cut up the side of her dress and letting his fingers dip in until his hand rested against her bare thigh. “Stressed,” he began, ducking his head until his lips were against her ear and breathing out - hot and warm - into her ear. “That I can deal with.”

She whimpered slightly and tried to talk herself out of it. They had a bit of time, sure, considering all that was happening now were speeches and they needed to wait until a little later in the evening before they could actually accomplish anything. And Percy was right, though she hated it. He was actually quite adept at relieving her stress. 

“You know,” Pansy responded with a small sigh, and a slight moan as he let his fingers wander upwards and brush over her now-damp underwear. “I think the only time you’re tolerable is when your cock is inside me.” 

Percy chuckled, low and dark, and tugged off her panties in one smooth motion. “I think,” he responded, reaching up to press them against her lips until she opened her mouth, “you’re much more attractive when I can shut you up.”

Pansy whined slightly around the makeshift gag and shifted under him, trying to spur him on. Percy pressed one hand carefully against her collarbone, holding her still against the door, and used the other to undo his belt and slip it out from his belt loops. He paused to consider the situation for a moment, and then reached up and caught Pansy’s hands, looping the thin leather around them and then up over the coat hook on the back of the bathroom door.

When he was done, he pulled back for a moment to admire her, his lips twitching slightly into a mischievous grin and his eyes darkening at the sight of her, stretched out and waiting.

“Much better,” he agreed with himself, leaning back in and slipping his pants out of the way, gathering up her dress and moving that too. “Should have known,” he continued, speaking hotly in her ear again, “that you’d want to be fucked right here. In the middle of the Ministry’s biggest stronghold.”

Percy slipped his fingers back up towards her and groaned appreciatively at what he felt. “So wet,” he said with almost pride in his voice. “Such a dirty little _pirate_ , Pansy. Half the people in there would lock you up in a heartbeat, if they knew who you worked with. And instead, I’ve got you tied to the bathroom door, absolutely dripping for me.”

Pansy shuddered slightly and swallowed again, wanting to respond but humouring his attempt to keep her quiet. Besides. There was something about the entire situation - her arms just high enough up that she had to stretch them, his body up against hers, the thought of all the people on the other side of the door.

_Fuck_. She hated when he was right.

Instead of saying this, she pressed her hips forward and Percy finally relented, moving his fingers aside and sliding them into his mouth to clean them. Pansy shivered at the sight of this and before she had a chance to dwell on it further, Percy was moving. He slid one hand under one of her thighs, lifting one of her legs off the ground to better angle their bodies together. Then, without much warning, he slid inside of her.

Pansy had to stifle her moan and she let her head drop back against the door behind her, surrendering herself to the way his body right. Her brain briefly registered that she had told herself they wouldn’t do this again, but it was gone as quickly as he began to thrust into her, one hand holding her thigh and the other gripping her hip for leverage.

“Fuck,” Percy hissed in her ear, “so _tight_. Don’t think I’ll ever get over how good you feel.” Pansy nodded slightly and swallowed again, and then one of his hands shifted and he was tilting her head down. “Look at me,” Percy commanded, and Pansy complied almost instantly, forcing her eyes open. 

For a moment she wondered if he’d be burned into her brain like this, his eyes dark and his cheeks tinged slightly red. She thought back to the first day they had met - those same eyes peering down at her, curious and inquisitive. Once more she thought that it wasn’t that he was conventionally attractive. Not striking like Blaise, or classically handsome like Marcus. But here - with his face inches from hers, lips wet and a determined gaze fighting through the heady arousal obvious in his eyes - that she started to doubt if she’d ever find someone more attractive.

“Fuck,” she murmured back, the word tangling around the fabric in her mouth but clear enough. Percy rested his forehead against hers and let out a breath too close to a shudder, and she wondered if the gag was as much to try and stick to their agreement of no kissing as it was to keep her quiet.

They lapsed into silence then, Percy’s slightly laboured breathing and Pansy’s occasional whimpers and muffled moans taking up the space that his words had just filled. At one point he shifted his fingers down to dance across her clit and Pansy had to swallow down the need to scream. She wanted to _touch_ him, wanted to feel his skin under her fingers, his bare chest against hers.

“Pansy,” he growled in her ear, and Pansy whimpered and then acted without thinking. She spit out her makeshift gag and shifted just slightly against him.

“ _Percy_ ,” she responded, and then crashed her lips into his for a searing kiss that sent her tumbling over the edge.

Percy shuddered against her and thrust a few more times and then he too stilled, never once breaking their lips apart. Finally, Percy pulled back slightly so that they could each catch their breaths, and then slipped out of her and reached up to untie her hands with a deft precision. They stayed against the wall, his body resting on hers, for another few moments, neither saying a word.

Pansy was already pissed at herself, mad that she’d broken so many of her rules. But Percy had been right, and most of her stress was gone and probably not returning any time soon. And there had just been something about all of it and she hadn’t been able to stop her desire, turn off the part of her that _ached_ for him. 

“Fuck,” she whispered, resigned and sated and frustrated. 

His head nodded slightly against hers and then his body was gone, and he was zipping his pants back up and reaching a hand out to smooth over his hair, returning himself to presentable. “Right. Come on then,” he pressed, reaching down to scoop her discarded underwear off the floor and slipping them discreetly into his pocket. “We have a crew to save.” 

Pansy took one last deep breath, smoothed her hand down over her hair, and then forced her shoulders back - driving confidence down into her spine. “You’re damn right about that. Oh, and Percy?” Pansy flashed him her best innocent smile as she reached for the doorknob. “That lovely little performance didn’t erase my memory of our prior conversation. You _are_ going to tell me all about this Commodore bullshit as soon as we are all back on the ship.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadian pals!! I somehow managed to get a day off work (???) and instead of, like, catching up on everything important in my life I realized I hadn't posted a chapter here in a while so I wanted to get on that ASAP.
> 
> Writing wise, I've just finished up 16 and am halfway through 17. I'm not as far ahead as I hoped to be, but after a bit of a slump I think I'm picking up steam again and starting to figure out more of the plot - and also starting to, yknow, get that plot WRITTEN. Mad props to nymphadoraholtzmann who is my unending cheerleader, who reads partially written chapters and tells me they're good, who helps come up with future plot points, and who is a little too much like Pansy to be a real coincidence. ;)
> 
> Again. I can't make promises on the update schedules (seriously: I am behind on everything and I'm sorry if you're waiting for me to get back to you about something or read your fic or whatever else. I'm not trying to drop everyone on purpose but I've been working quite a few 40 hour weeks, mostly starting at 5am, and I'm burning out in my personal life. So fandom has taken a pretty big back seat. :( But I'm working on it! <3) but I'm going to try and get the next few chapters updated as drafts so even if I'm exhausted and busy I can just hit "post" and get the next one to you sooner? Does that sound like a good plan?
> 
> Thank you thank you all of you for reading this and sticking with me through it all. This story isn't really slowing down and I'm glad to have yall along with me for this crazy ride! <3
> 
> As an additional bonus thank you (it IS thanksgiving up here in the great white north!), here's a small snippet from chapter 11! Enjoy!
>
>> “Right,” Percy muttered, voice close to her ear as he guided her through the crowded ballroom with one hand resting on the small of her back. “Now we need to get down to business. I propose that-”
>> 
>> “Oh my GOD!” Out of nowhere, their conversation was interrupted a voice, high and smooth and distinctly feminine. Before Pansy had a moment to react, her face was full of blonde hair and there were thin arms wrapped around her body. All she could smell was jasmine and citrus, and the sense of familiarity that washed over her was so calming she nearly cried.
>> 
>> “Daphne,” she breathed, letting her own arms work against her and wrap them around the body pressed to hers. After a long moment, the blonde woman pulled back slightly to look at her face, taking in her appearance and quirking her lips into a beaming grin.


	11. Allies

“Right,” Percy muttered, voice close to her ear as he guided her through the crowded ballroom with one hand resting on the small of her back. “Now we need to get down to business. I propose that-” 

“Oh my _GOD!_ ” Out of nowhere, their conversation was interrupted a voice, high and smooth and distinctly feminine. Before Pansy had a moment to react, her face was full of blonde hair and there were thin arms wrapped around her body. All she could smell was jasmine and citrus, and the sense of familiarity that washed over her was so calming she nearly cried.

“Daphne,” she breathed, letting her own arms work against her and wrap them around the body pressed to hers. After a long moment, the blonde woman pulled back slightly to look at her face, taking in her appearance and quirking her lips into a beaming grin.

“Pan-” 

“ _Penelope_ ,” Percy interjected, quick and low with a warning glance in Pansy’s direction. “Are you going to introduce me?”

Pansy huffed slightly at him but slid slightly further out of Daphne’s grasp, not complaining when the other woman instead snaked one of her small hands down into Pansy’s and wrapped her fingers tightly around it. It was a comfort, and a warning. A _how dare you leave me_ and a _I won’t let you do that again_. “Daphne Greengrass, may I introduce you to my… date… _Commodore_ Percy Weasley. And Percy, this is Daphne, a friend from… home.”

Daphne was watching them both almost skeptically now, and she glanced around the room quickly before she grabbed for Percy’s hand as well and tugged them both back into a more secluded area of the ballroom. “Pansy,” she whispered, ignoring the look that she was now getting from Percy. “As much as I am _absolutely_ thrilled to see you again… what are you _doing_ here? Do you know how long it’s been? And then you just… just _show up_ like everything’s fine and you didn’t literally run away to go live with some…” Daphne waved her hand in mock frustration. “Suave miscreant with a penchant for petty theft?”

“It’s…” Pansy trailed off, glancing at Percy for a moment and trying to decipher the expression on his face. “A long story, Daph. But I’m not here for long. What are _you_ doing here? Your father never would have let you leave London for some party.”

“Well,” Daphne sighed, and lifted her left hand. Perched on her left hand ring finger was a rather large diamond that sparkled under the light of the ballroom and drew a small gasp from Pansy’s lips. “No, of course not. That is… unless the gala was honouring my future husband and his, er, _accomplishments_.” 

Three sets of eyes flicked collectively towards the front of the room, where Cormac was still standing with a crowd, lifting his whiskey glass up for a toast and laughing at a joke someone to his left had made.

“No!” Pansy gasped, reaching for Daphne’s hand and wrapping her own around it. “Please, Daphne, tell me that you actually love him-”

Daphne’s lips pursed and her brow creased. “While you may have the…” her eyes flickered over to Percy and across his body quickly, “ _luxury_ for love, some of us have not been so lucky. He…” Daphne shrugged uncomfortably. “Is fine. Doesn’t seem to care for me other than that I’m a pretty thing to hang on his arm, a good future wife to cook meals on his ship, I think.”

“That doesn’t seem fair,” Percy interjected, frowning now himself. “Why would you marry someone who doesn’t see you as your own person?” 

For a moment, Daphne grinned again. “Ooh, I _like_ him,” she said to Pansy with a quick wink. And then her demeanour fell again. “It’s not like I have much of a _choice_ , hm? You clean up alright,” she said, back to Percy, “but clearly you’re not from high society.”

Percy was about to say something back when Pansy lifted a hand quickly to quiet them both. “Daph, I… I wish I could stay, I really do but. Percy and I… we have to go.”

Her eyes narrowed again. “Pansy,” she said, almost warningly. “You don’t mean to tell me that we haven’t seen each other in _four years_ and now you’re just going to go disappear on me again? Where are you going?”

“Er,” Pansy hedged, looking over at Percy.

“It’s not to go shag in some closet,” Daphne muttered petulantly. “Because you’ve clearly already _done_ that tonight.”

“Pardon me?” Percy nearly choked. 

Pansy brushed him off. “Daphne’s always had a bit of an uncanny ability to know when people have been fucking. No, Daph, it’s…” she paused, and took a breath, and then rolled the dice. “It’s a long story. But my crew are here, locked up. I have to go get them and get out of here. We… look, the point is I can’t leave them here on this trash pile of a planet.” 

Daphne glanced around the room to make sure no one was close to them and stepped up to Pansy, looking at her all of a sudden very seriously. “You’re planning on breaking into Azkaban to bust out your crew and then disappear back into deep space?”

“Look,” Percy cut in smoothly, looking between the two women quickly. “I would _very much_ appreciate if you just… forgot you saw us. Go back to your life and pretend this never happened.” 

“Fuck _that_ ,” Daphne blurted out, her cheeks colouring at the use of the word but not slowing her down. “There’s no way you’ll be able to get in there alone. The whole area’s on lockdown. Not without the right clearance coding.”

Pansy shook her head. “We’re just going to, I dunno, knock out the guard or something. Daphne, you’re not going to stop me. If I can’t get them out, I’ll rot in there with them-” 

Daphne rolled her eyes and then turned, headed for the door and tugging Pansy with her. “Don’t be an idiot,” she finally said, as the three slipped out of the ballroom and into a hallway. Daphne glanced around and then went left, not slowing down. Pansy and Percy shared a quick glance before finally Pansy nodded once and took off after her friend. 

They made three or four turns that left Pansy almost dizzy - and she was struck with an overwhelming sense that if they hadn’t run into Daphne, they might not have actually been able to _do_ this. Sure, she’d looked at the prints, but Diagon was _big_ , and Daphne was clearly comfortable in the halls. And Azkaban - the area where prisoners were held - was far away and confusingly located.  

And then the stopped outside of a door and Daphne looked back at the both with a fire in her eyes that Pansy wasn’t used to. “You’re taking me with you,” she stated.

“What?” Percy cut in, looking between them both.

“You heard me, _Commodore_.”

Pansy winced. “Daphne… I really don’t know if that’s the best idea? I… space isn’t _easy_ you know. It’s hard work out in the black and if you leave with me - you’ll get a price on your head just like I’ve got.”

Daphne nodded, determined. “And I won’t have to marry a man who thinks I’m an object, or pretend to get along with people I can’t stand. I’ll get a chance to be _free_ Pansy. You took that for yourself without a second thought. Let me take it too.” 

Pansy inhaled deeply, then finally nodded. “Yes, of course. We have a spare room on the _Adder_ . You…” she trailed off, swallowed something that felt like pain - _Blaise’s face looking up at her, the gunshot when Marcus was taken, her friends dying no matter what she did_ \- and decided this was the least she could do. “You’re always welcome, where I am.”

Daphne clapped her hands together and nodded, reaching out for the door. “Right. You two wait out here, try to make yourself not seen. I know the night guard pretty well. Wait till he leaves and then slip in after him, alright?” She waited until they had each pressed themselves up against a wall, mostly hidden in the shadows of the corridor, and then scanned her arm under the reader, clearing her throat as she walked in.

“Michael!” Daphne called out, voice sing-song pitched and sweet, and then the door slid shut behind her.

* * *

 

Less than five minutes later, the door slid open and a young man slipped out. He glanced quickly around the hallway but didn’t notice either Percy or Pansy, and then he headed off down the hall. Presumably in the direction of food and alcohol and dancing. Pansy darted into the cell area with Percy close behind her, and they found Daphne leaning against a wall with a grin on her face.

“Told you,” she half-sang, laughing as Pansy glanced around the room. The front area was just a small room with another door separating them from the cells.

“Great,” Pansy agreed, stepping up to the door and frowning. “But how do we get through to them?” 

Daphne grinned. “Glad you asked, Pansy darling. You see, despite all the fancy coding scanners all over this place, for some reason Azkaban never switched over. I think they thought it would be more secure if the numbers were only in someone's head?” Percy snorted, and Daphne laughed and continued. “Anyways, like I said, I spend time down here when I need to get away for a bit. And Michael sometimes leaves me in charge - he’s got a thing with one of the generals, see - and so…” Daphne leaned over to a slightly hidden keypad and then, with a slow creak, the door in front of them slid open. 

Pansy’s heart leapt into her throat and she glanced over to Percy quickly. “You can open the cells too, right?” she asked.

“Obviously,” Daphne responded with a small smirk, and then she hit another few buttons and inside the room was a small series of clicks. 

The first thing Pansy heard was a rather aggressive, “what the actual _fuck_?” that sent her heart pounding and pulled a grin across her face. She took one deep steadying breath, trying to push down the built up frustration and hurt and loss. Then, she cleared her throat, threw on her best self confident / badass bitch smirk, and walked in. 

“Honestly, boys,” she said, with mock annoyance dancing through her tone, “can’t even break yourself out of prison. What _am_ I supposed to do with you?”

Percy had followed her back into the room with the cells, and hung back as he watched the events unfold. From near the back, out of a darkened cell:

“Pansy?” came a voice, and a thin, tall, too pale man stepped out, reaching up to rub his eyes against the light.

“I _told you_ she’d come for us!” someone else half shouted, dashing forwards past the other man and rushing towards her, wrapping her arms around her and spinning her through the air. “Pans, I have never in my life been so glad to see you.”

Pansy laughed, giving in for a moment to the rush of emotions as she wrapped her own arms back around him. “Missed you, Theo,” she said in almost a whisper. Then, he dropped her and turned back towards the blonde boy, pulling him into an _incredibly_ intense looking kiss.

“Well, babes, didn’t think I’d see you again quite so soon.”

Pansy turned her head sharply to the side, where Marcus was emerging from the last cell, lifting a hand up to rub at the back of his head. She couldn’t stop her sharp inhale of breath at the sight of him - she’d been _so sure_ he was dead and so hopeful he wasn’t and now- 

Now, he was taking his turn catching her up in his arms. And before Pansy had a chance to say otherwise, Marcus had dipped his head down and caught her lips in a deep kiss, one hand on the small of her back as he took her in. Pansy’s brain processed this slowly - first as an _oh_ , and then as a _this isn’t quite right_ and then, behind her, someone cleared their throat. 

“Well,” said Percy, tone slightly clipped and too-stiff. “ _That_ was unexpected.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> <3<3<3 thank you for reading and enjoying! We're almost at the end of Part 1!!! Who can believe it? (Not me! ...or ao3 since there's no way to indicate parts on here ;)) I'm well into writing part 2 now and in my brain there will be three parts. Maybe four. We'll see - things get fuzzy later in my outline re: specifics.
> 
> Since we're nearing a good milestone for this fic (end of part one! 30k!) I thought I'd ask to see if there's anything you, the readers, would like to see! Scenes, moments, adventures... anything come to mind as a big "ooh! I want the characters to do THIS!" Is there any backstory you want to make sure I cover? Big questions, universe related information...? Let me know down below!
> 
> Much love as always to nymphadoraholtzmann my beautiful beta/person/favourite/etc. <3 may you all be as lucky as I am with the friends you have in your lives.
> 
> Also, since I'm not great at this whole "updating regularly" thing, I thought I'd give you guys a list of (kind of?) similar completed fics that I've written, if you're interested in checking them out!  
>  **Some smut:**  
>  \- [Crash Into Me](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11069121) -> Pansy/Percy, postwar smut [10k]  
> \- [Stroke Your Body Like a Violin](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9456068) -> Marcus/Oliver smut [2k]  
>  **And some AUs:**  
>  \- [You Love the Sea](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10575063/chapters/23367903) -> Marcus, Oliver, and selkies, what more could you want? [~13k]  
> \- [Starving](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8821915/chapters/20227219) -> Marcus/Oliver, ft. country boys, gang violence, and a lot of feelings.
> 
> And again, a preview from our next chapter - the last of part 1!:
>
>> Pansy managed to slowly untangle herself from Marcus’s grip. She turned back towards Percy, wondering why her stomach felt like lead and her heart had started to beat in an upbeat, broken staccato. Probably, she tried to tell herself, because she had only just had sex with Percy and was feeling guilty about it for Marcus’s sake.
>> 
>> That made sense.
>> 
>> “Right,” she said, as he levelled his usual curious and slightly frightening gaze at her. “Uh, um. Percy, this is my crew.” Pansy gestured around at the boys behind her. Slowly, Draco and Theo were pulling apart, but their hands stayed tightly entwined. “Marcus, Draco, Theo,” she introduced, ignoring Draco’s pointed cough that was probably about code names or something. “Guys, this is Percy Weasley. He’s part of a… well, it’s a rather long story. But he’s here to help me break you out.”


	12. Helpless

Pansy managed to slowly untangle herself from Marcus’s grip. She turned back towards Percy, wondering why her stomach felt like lead and her heart had started to beat in an upbeat, broken staccato. _Probably,_ she tried to tell herself, _because she had only just had sex with Percy and was feeling guilty about it for Marcus’s sake_.

That made sense.

“Right,” she said, as Percy levelled his usual curious and slightly frightening gaze at her. “Uh, um. Percy, this is my crew.” Pansy gestured around at the boys behind her. Slowly, Draco and Theo were pulling apart, but their hands stayed tightly entwined. “Marcus, Draco, Theo,” she introduced, ignoring Draco’s pointed cough that was probably about code names or something. “Guys, this is Percy Weasley. He’s part of a… well, it’s a rather long story. But he’s here to help me break you out.” 

Percy nodded once, clearly ignoring how flustered Pansy had started to get. “Right then. We’d better get moving before they realize,” he suggested, and then turned. Marcus shot Pansy an odd ‘ _this guy seems weird_ ’ look, but followed her out of the room anyways, with Draco and Theo close behind.

Pansy introduced them to Daphne as well, and then she turned back towards the odd group mingling around her. “Okay. We’ve just got to head this way and hope we don’t run into anyone on the way out, and we’ll be all set.”

Daphne nodded, flashing a smile at the crowd, and reached out to open up the main door again when the comm crackled with static and then a voice. “Daph? You down there?”

Daphne’s eyes grew and she looked at Pansy with something akin to panic in her gaze. Pansy took a moment and then her eyes widened as well - “Cormac?” she whispered. Daphne nodded rapidly, and Percy was about to say something when the voice started again.

“Michael’s up at the ball and I can’t find you - you okay down there?”

Draco, from behind, shot Daphne a fierce look and that seemed to spark something inside of her and she nodded quickly, clearing her throat before she hit a button on the comm to respond. “Oh, um, yup! Just me. The party was, um, just a bit… I just needed some, um, air?” Behind her, Draco dropped his head down into his hands and Pansy was almost certain she heard him whisper ‘ _we’re fucked._ ’

“Riiiiight,” Cormac returned, and Pansy could almost _see_ a quirked brow in the tone. “Because the Lieutenant just said he got a notice that the doors had been opened. So, you don’t have to lie sweetheart, we’re gonna be there in just a moment and everything will be okay, yeah? Just stay calm, Daph. And if _any_ of you touch even one hair on-”

Daphne slammed her hand down on the ‘end call’ button and spun quickly to Pansy.

Pansy swallowed hard, and glanced from Draco to Percy, and then took a breath. “We just have to get to the docking bay and the ship should be there to pick us up. If they catch us in the hall or if they catch us here it’s the same result, so, take off you damn heels, Daph. Let’s _go_.” Pansy kicked her shoes off, took one last deep breath, and hit the button to open the door. She was out before it had even finished opening and took off down the hall, and she held her breath for only a moment before she heard footsteps behind her. One quick glance back and she spotted Daphne’s blonde hair, Percy’s red, and the boys behind them.

 _Good_.

The docking bay was four turns away - Pansy had memorized them. The boys caught up to her quickly and Theo pushed ahead, taking Pansy’s shouted orders for when to turn and glancing around them to make sure the way was clear before they went. Finally, up ahead, Pansy spotted the door that obviously led outside and she slowed down, taking a deep gasping breath as she did so. Daphne slowed behind her, and Pansy was just about to say _‘we did it_ ’ when someone behind them shouted “stop!”

Pansy’s crew didn’t stop, Theo running nearly right into the door as he hit the button to open it. He was out with Draco, but Marcus skidded to a stop halfway through the door when he realized that the girls had fallen behind. Daphne  _had_ stopped, and Pansy spun to grab her friend’s hand. Percy was halfway between the girls and Marcus, and he hesitated as well. 

“Daphne,” came the voice that Pansy now knew was obviously Cormac’s.

“Percy,” Pansy snapped, turning her head, “go - take them to the ship. If we’re not there in five you fucking leave without us, do you hear me?”

Percy took one look at her face, and then nodded, turning and making his way quickly to the door. 

“Pansy!” Marcus chastised, stepping closer to her before Percy came in between them. “What? You got us out, we’re not going to leave without you-”

“Percy,” Pansy hissed, not chancing a look back. The thought of all this work only to lose them again was too heavy to process and so she forced it out, breathing a small sigh of relief as Percy said something to Marcus and then the door shut behind them, assuming they were all out in time. Just in time as well, because then Cormac stepped into view, two tall men behind him, each holding some sort of gun that Pansy had never seen before.

“There you are,” Cormac said, a smile too bright across his face. “Daphne, who’s this?” He gestured almost vaguely to Pansy, who bit down on the inside of her cheek to keep from responding.

“Oh!” Daphne, paused, turning towards Pansy. Her eyes were wide and horrified and Pansy swallowed down her own nerves, thinking of her boys safe and knowing she’d be better off, being a female from a respectable family. This was the right thing to do. 

Why did it feel so wrong?

“I’m Pen-” before Pansy could finish introducing her fake self, someone behind her cleared their throat. Her heart leapt into her throat as Draco stepped out from the shadows, spinning two guns blithely through his fingers.

“Gentleman,” he began, tilting his head in a gesture of mock respect towards Cormac as he stepped between Pansy and Daphne. One arm wrapped across each of the girls’ chests and Pansy felt the the familiar cold of a gun barrel pressing underneath her chin - and she assumed he had done the same to Daphne based on the noise she made at the same time. It probably would have been smart to be scared at the metal pressing into her skin. Instead, Pansy relaxed slightly into Draco's chest despite her anger that he hadn't followed her instructions. He wouldn't let anything happen to them. “How are you this fine evening? Sounds like you were having quite the party,” 

Cormac nearly choked, reaching a hand out towards Daphne before pausing, clearly thinking better of it. “How on _earth_ did you get out? No one has ever broken out from Azkaban before-” 

“Well,” started someone behind him, and Cormac turned his head with a snap, narrowing his eyes at the other man.

“Shut _up_ , Zacharias,” Cormac all but hissed, and the other man shrugged but nodded, fine to comply for now. Cormac swiftly turned his eyes back to Daphne, skimming them over her face. “Don’t worry, Daph, we’ll get you two away from this _criminal_ , it’s going to be okay-” 

Draco cleared his throat again as Cormac stepped slightly forward, narrowing his eyes just slightly. “I wouldn’t do that, if I were you. Y’see, I’ve got your fiancée and this…” he looked down at Pansy and she could almost see the smirk on his face, “other helpless woman at gunpoint,” Draco glanced pointedly over at each of his guns, and then back at the men in front of them. “So here’s what’s gonna happen. You’re all going to put all of your shiny little guns down on the floor.”

No one moved for a moment and Draco lifted a thumb to cock the gun (he had always preferred ‘vintage’ weapons for dramatic purposes) that was pressed against Daphne’s neck. She whimpered not unconvincingly and Pansy remembered that the girl didn’t actually _know_ Draco and didn’t realize he would never shoot someone who had just let him out of prison. Still. The look of horror on Cormac’s face was enough, and he bent to put his gun down. The men behind him followed suit and each lifted their hands up in a sign of almost surrender. 

“Mm, a pretty boy who knows how to take orders - just my type,” Draco leered at Cormac, before he started to back up, pulling Pansy and Daphne back slightly with the arms he had around them. “Now, you’re all going to stand right where you are - if you move even a muscle I swear to god I’ll blow out blondie’s pretty brains. Wouldn’t want that, would we?”

Cormac shook his head and Draco let out a scoff that sounded like a laugh, as he stepped back again. “You,” he instructed, pushing his gun slightly more against Pansy, “press the door button. No sudden moves.” 

Pansy had to physically stop herself from rolling her eyes, but she managed it and lifted her hand very slowly to the wall. Keeping an eye on Cormac the entire time, she hit the button and then let Draco guide her backwards even more slowly. As they backed away even further, Draco leant his head slightly closer to her ear. “Almost there,” he whispered, and then looked back up. 

“I’m going to take these pretty ladies on my ship, gents. And you’re going to stay exactly where you are, and wish you’d never crossed my path.” Draco flashed them each a stunning grin, and the door in front of them started to slide close. 

Pansy had just started to exhale a breath of relief when time started to slow around her. Cormac bent down and scooped up his gun and aimed and _fired_ and the air around her singed. Draco let out a shout and dropped the gun that had been against Pansy, and there were shouts behind her. The world silenced and narrowed and Pansy only vaguely registered that they were running, that Marcus was shouting and pulling her up in the ship, that there was yelling from the ground, that they were taking off. 

“Pansy,” someone was saying, shaking her shoulder, “Pansy, hey, _hey_ babygirl it’s okay look at me-” 

It was the _baby-girl_ that did it, all wrong from Marcus’s deep voice. Blaise used to call her that and she forced a breath in her chest as she focused her eyes on the man who clearly wasn’t _him_. She was sitting on the ground, arms around her legs as she tried to inhale. It took a moment before she looked around and she almost cried in relief as everything started to steady around her. They were all there. Daphne leaning against the back door of the ship, tears rolling down her pale cheeks. Theo holding Draco’s uninjured hand, whispering something to the blonde who was gritting his teeth in clear pain. Marcus was in front of her, now holding onto her hands and smiling a little. And behind them all, arms crossed as he observed the odd group of misfits, was Percy. Silent, and stoic, and yet with less tension through his body, clearly relieved that they had all made it with only one small injury. 

 _Finally_ , Pansy thought, as she glanced around the ship. _Home_.

* * *

Arriving back at the ship was chaotic, to say the least. 

It only took them a few minutes to get out of the area of Diagon, but Harry flew in a rather obscure way on his way back to the ship - just in case they were followed. When it was clear they were safe, for now at least, he pulled up alongside the ship and gave the all clear to enter.

Pansy had never really expected to feel the same sense of _safe_ that she felt on the _Adder_ anywhere else. But, stepping through onto the _Phoenix_ , seeing Luna and Hermione and Ginny and Neville and Oliver waiting for them… for a moment, it felt… _good_. 

All of that was pushed aside as Theo and Draco stepped off the ship, Draco’s eyes shut tightly in pain, hand clutched against his chest. He wouldn’t let anyone look at it or even come near him - other than Theo - he just repeated over and over that it felt like it was _burning_ from the inside out. Hermione noticed this all instantly and stepped forward quickly, reaching out to her patient. “Oliver?” she questioned quickly, and the man nodded.

“Go,” he instructed, eyes returning to the crew stepping out of the ship.

Pansy wasn’t sure if she still wasn’t thinking straight, but she swore that as Marcus stepped off the ship, Oliver’s eyes widened and he swallowed, adam’s apple bobbing under his skin. Marcus too seemed to react, if only for a moment. His own eyes grew and then he was up against Pansy, one hand on the small of her back, standing too close behind her. Pansy did her best not to flinch, not entirely used to such close human contact - at least, not in such an affectionate nature.

Percy was watching this as well, and she caught the way his gaze flicked back to Marcus and narrowed slightly, and Pansy nearly felt dizzy by all the things that weren’t being said and yet were so clear around her. 

Daphne was the first to speak, clearing her throat slightly. She was having a familiar reaction - looking between Ginny and Luna and where Hermione had left, and then back to Pansy. “Um,” she said, looking back at Pansy and then Percy, then Oliver - who clearly had the air of being in charge. “I don’t mean to intrude,”

Pansy debated for a moment if she’d let Daphne’s society manners take over, but decided it wasn’t worth it and seized the opportunity to step away from Marcus and towards Daphne, reaching out for her friend's hand in a rare display of open affection.

“Oliver,” she began, glancing around at the rest of the crew. “This is Daphne. I know we didn’t talk about having her on board, but… she’s a good friend of mine from…” Pansy swallowed the part of her that screamed not to get so personal, so close, “from home. And she needs a place to go - her father sold her off to be married and she can’t stay there anymore. She’ll only be here until we get the _Adder_ back. I figured, well, you have so much space and so much food-”

Oliver lifted a hand to silence her and nodded. “Not even a question. Daphne, welcome to the _Phoenix_!” he gestured grandly around them and winked at the blonde, who giggled softly, but Pansy watched the way his eyes flicked quickly back to Marcus, the way Marcus averted his own gaze.

“Right then,” Oliver finally said, clapping his hands together. “Luna, why don’t you show Daphne-”

One of the comms crackled to life and Ginny raised a brow but turned it on anyways. 

“Hi,” came Hermione’s voice, careful and too still, “can Pansy please come down to the medbay?” 

Pansy swallowed, turned her eyes rapidly around the room, landed on Percy’s. He raised one brow very carefully and she realized he hadn’t said more than a few words to her since they picked the crew up, but he also nodded almost imperceptibly and she swallowed, needing the reassurance.

“Coming!” Pansy called, and started for the door. Marcus was at her heels and Pansy bit her lip then turned to stop him.

“Can you,” she paused, frowned, hated that she was asking but knowing she just needed to see Theo and Draco, to make sure Draco was okay. “Can you get the rooms sorted out? Oliver and Luna should be able to help you figure out where everyone’s going to stay, and then I’ll bring Draco out of the medbay. I’m sure he’s fine, and, and it would be good if you guys knew where you’ll be sleeping.”

Marcus frowned, brows drawing downwards, but he nodded as well. “‘Course,” he murmured, and waited another moment to see if Pansy would lean in for a kiss, or any gesture of affection. When she didn’t, he nodded once more, as if it was obvious, and then turned back towards Oliver. 

Pansy didn’t even hear what he said, she was already out the door and running down the hallway, the only thought in her mind of Blaise, _bleeding bleeding bleeding_ \- and Draco, shouting as whatever had hit him burned through his skin.

## End Part One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Today sucks. A lot. It's pouring rain which feels apt for my mood. We lost a great Canadian icon today - Gord Downie, the lead singer of The Tragically Hip. The whole country seems to be in this odd state of shock and heartbreak and disbelief (though, he's been battling brain cancer for some time). Everything just seems insurmountably sad today. And the oddest part of it is that while the Hip are one of the biggest Canadian bands, they didn't really take off anywhere else, so it feels like the whole universe should be reeling in light of what happened but most of you probably have no idea. Anyways. I wanted to bring a bit of joy & this was my best idea for doing so. The rest of this note was written a few days ago - sorry for the abrupt change in tone.]
> 
> Well! What a wild ride. Part One is officially finished! That.... doesn't mean much for you - chapter 13 is already finished and ready to go. But we've wrapped on the first big "plot arc" - Pansy has rescued her crew. There is still, of course, a LOT to come.
> 
> Much love as always to all of you & my beta, nymphadoraholtzmann - without whom I would be nothing, and this story would be nothing probably too.
> 
> As a reminder - if there are things in this story you're just dying to see comment down below and let me know!!! I'm taking suggestions but also I want to make sure no one leaves unsatisfied if I can help it. Don't worry - the tagged pairings ARE endgame, though many are slower burns that you'll just have to be patient for. But, there's much to come and likely more characters will appear as well, so, if you're desperate to see someone there, like I said, let me know!
> 
> In a continuation of last weeks recs, here are some from other authors I love! (This week, I'm featuring **my favourite AUs**! In future weeks, my favourite Pansy's, my favourite triads, my favourite Flintwoods, my favourite rare pairs, and more probably!)  
>  \- [Ride or Die by olivieblake](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8517787/chapters/19523668) -> one of my favourite Dramione's, a modern AU ft. Doctor Granger (yes, my inspiration for our Dr. Granger!) and gang member Draco  
> \- [How to Win Friends and Influence People by olivieblake](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11208228/chapters/25035075) -> a modern AU with assassin Draco, underground fighter Hermione, and a ton of other delicious intrigue and hilarity  
> \- [Nobility by olivieblake](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8587108/chapters/19690954) -> Pansy/Harry this time, set in a somewhat medieval AU - with kings and queens and knights and so much more than I could fit in such a short summary  
> \- [Dangerous Play by flintwoodandco](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11174520/chapters/24945396) -> a modern Flintwood AU, with camboy Oliver. delicious, smutty, angsty, funny... this amazing fic has got it all! <3  
> \- [Time Go by provocative_envy]() -> Pansy/Harry star in this modern AU about oblivious hockey players and escorts who bake. Harry is oblivious and Pansy is snarky and together they're just perfect.  
> \- [Hermione Granger's Hogwarts Crammer for Delinquents on the Run](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7331278/chapters/16653022) -> one of my FAVOURITE aus, an amazing (Drarry focused) take on the "what happens if Harry never gets his Hogwarts letter?" plotline.  
> \- [Lay it On Me by nymphadoraholtzmann](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11838819) -> a modern Neville/Daphne flowershop AU, with one of my favourite every Daphne's and some AMAZING snarky banter.
> 
> And, as part of our new tradition, a preview from the beginning of **Part Two**!
>
>> Pansy had to force herself not to run most of the way to the medbay, and when she reached the door she took two deep breaths before opening it. Draco was lying on a bed near the middle of the room - and she had to force herself to check his chest for movement before she panicked. Just asleep, or sedated. Not dead. Not dead.
>> 
>> Theo was sitting on one side of him, both of his hands clutched around Draco’s uninjured one, head resting carefully on the man’s shoulder and his shoulders moving slowly as if he was forcing himself to breathe. Hermione was standing on Draco’s other side, worrying her lip between her teeth as she inspected the skin of Draco’s left hand carefully. Even in his sleep, as Hermione brushed her fingers over the skin, his face was twitching in pain.
>> 
>> Pansy cleared her throat just softly and managed a weak smile as Theo turned his head towards her, his own responding smile tight and awkward. He reached out one of his hands and, without any words exchanged, Pansy crossed the room and sunk down onto a chair beside him, tucking herself under his arm. Home.
>> 
>> “So,” Pansy finally managed, after revelling for a minute in the return of her crew, “what’s up, Doc?”


	13. Safe

## Part Two

Pansy had to force herself not to run most of the way to the medbay, and when she reached the door she took two deep breaths before opening it. Draco was lying on a bed near the middle of the room - and she had to force herself to check his chest for movement before she panicked. Just asleep, or sedated. Not dead. Not dead.

Theo was sitting on one side of him, both of his hands clutched around Draco’s uninjured one, head resting carefully on the man’s shoulder and his shoulders moving slowly as if he was forcing himself to breathe. Hermione was standing on Draco’s other side, worrying her lip between her teeth as she inspected the skin of Draco’s injured hand carefully. Even in his sleep, as Hermione brushed her fingers over the skin, his face was twitching in pain.

Pansy cleared her throat just softly and managed a weak smile as Theo turned his head towards her, his own responding smile tight and awkward. He reached out one of his hands and, without any words exchanged, Pansy crossed the room and sunk down onto a chair beside him, tucking herself under his arm. _Home_. 

“So,” Pansy finally managed, after revelling for a minute in the return of her crew, “what’s up, Doc?”

Hermione looked for a minute like she was about to roll her eyes and then decided better of it, and she sighed instead and set down Draco’s hand. “Well,” she said, sitting down in her own chair beside the bed, clearly trying to work out the best way to present the information. “I’ve never seen anything like it before. From the outside, his hand appears to be completely fine, and nothing on the x-ray shows a break or anything to indicate a problem. But, I did do a tissue scan and…” she hesitated for a moment until Pansy nodded, and then pressed on. “Something is eating away at his soft tissue from the inside out, and-” Hermione’s voice faltered and her eyes dropped down towards her patient, clearly lost in thought.

Theo cleared his throat and glanced over to Pansy as best as he could, while still mostly keeping his attention towards Draco. “Neither of us have ever seen anything like it,” he admitted, and Pansy was starting to recognize the signs of defeat in his shoulders. “I know I’m not, well, this isn’t really my _area_ but-”

“But this is something completely new,” Hermione agreed, tugging at one of the curls that had sprung loose from her ‘I’m working’ bun. “I’ve never seen a disease like it, never seen any injury that even _resembled_ it. Frankly, it’s almost beautiful in it’s destruction, it’s just-”

“Just that it’s _destroying_ the _love of my life_!” Theo snapped at her, then took a breath and shook his head again. “Sorry, I just… Pansy, he’s in so much pain… and we don’t know how to fix it…”

Pansy took a breath and nodded, trying to process this. “But, it’s just in his hand?” she confirmed.

Hermione nodded. “For now, yes.” 

“And,” she said, still thinking, “will it stop?”

The pause that hung in the air was palpable and Pansy almost wished she hadn’t asked. Finally, Hermione shrugged. “I’m not sure,” she admitted. “We would have to just… watch and see. But if it _doesn’t_ stop, and soon, it’s going to cause permanent damage. Nerves, ligaments… it could lead to necrosis and sepsis and-”

Theo swallowed audibly and Pansy felt for a moment like she was going to vomit. “What do we do?” she finally asked. 

“Well,” Hermione was clearly forcing herself back into _thinking_ mode - if she had a ribbon, Pansy wondered if she’d tie it around her hair for extra power. “I think, in my _professional_ opinion, for now we watch. Draco seems to be handling the mild sedation well. I think we’ll keep him asleep for tonight and wake him up in the morning to see the pain levels. I’ll keep doing scans and if anything looks out of the ordinary we can reassess. His vitals are mostly fine, so I’m not worried about stability.”

Pansy nodded. “Okay, that… that’s a good idea. We’ll watch, and hopefully it fades and he’s fine, right?”

Theo nodded beside her. “I’m staying here,” he said, untangling his arm from Pansy and catching Draco’s hand again.

“Do you want to come for dinner?” Pansy pressed, lifting a hand to brush a strand of his hair out of one of his eyes. _So much open affection_ , her brain screamed - but she was too happy to be here with them that she couldn’t stop it for right now.

“No,” Theo murmured, eyes back firmly on his boyfriend. “I’ll be okay.”

Pansy looked up to Hermione who nodded in reassurance. “I’ll be here all night,” she promised, and finally Pansy relented.

“I’m going to go check on Daphne, but… call me if _anything_ happens, okay?” 

No one responded, and Pansy took that as a positive. By the time she was back at the door, Hermione and Theo’s heads were close together and they were speaking in hushed tones. Draco, at least for now, was in good hands.

* * *

By the time Pansy reached the mess hall, she had mostly composed herself and no longer felt like she was about to burst into tears - or like she was about to collapse. She had done it. Pulled off the impossible and rescued her crew despite huge odds against her. They were all here and, despite a slightly worrisome injury, all alive. 

And then there was Daphne. A girl she never thought she’d see again, another friend she’d written off as lost forever, _here_ and so beautiful. Even sitting at the table of the mess hall, sobbing down into her cereal, with an awkward Neville beside her trying to rub her back consolingly, Daphne was perfect.

Pansy let out a soft sigh at the sight and then headed to the table, taking the seat on the other side of her friend and reaching out to join Neville in said consoling motions. “Daph,” she whispered, trying to pull the woman out of whatever funk she was in, “Draco’s going to be just fine, hey? We all made it out alright.”

Daphne nodded and swallowed hard but still wasn’t able to stop, and Pansy sighed again. “Why are you crying, Daph? You’re safe now, we’re all okay. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, not ever again.” 

“I-” Daphne hiccuped and then took one more deep breath, and forced her shoulders up straighter. Her face was blotchy and her eyes rimmed red, but she barely seemed to notice or care. “I’m okay. Just… I’ve been through a lot, Pans. And I’m really glad I ran into you, is all. I think though… maybe I just need to go to bed?”

Pansy nodded quickly and pushed herself to her feet, reaching down to help Daphne stand as well. Neville stood too, and awkwardly pushed his hands into his pockets, managing a small smile for Pansy. “She’s in the room right next to yours,” he told her, and Pansy nodded.

“Thanks, Neville,” she said, and then she took Daphne’s hand and led the girl from the room.

* * *

 

Daphne was right in her assumption that what she really needed was sleep. Within minutes of Pansy getting her settled, she had dropped down onto the bed and out like a light. Pansy paused at the ladder for a moment, still trying to wrap her head around the whole situation, and then left the room. 

“Hey,” someone said, as she popped up into the hallway and straightened herself out. 

Pansy jumped and turned to find Marcus leaning against a wall, arms crossed slightly and lips pursed. “Marcus,” she breathed in slight relief, managing a weak smile for him. “You scared me.”

Marcus raised one brow at her. “I tend to do that with most people,” he reminded her. “You’re not usually most people.” 

Pansy sighed and lifted a hand to scrub at her face, wishing she could solve whatever _this_ problem was that her brain seemed to be having. Things had been fine with Marcus, hadn’t they? Sure, the sex had been rather… bland. And sure, neither of them had ever been particularly _affectionate_ with each other. But… they were fine, weren’t they?

“I think we need to chat,” Marcus finally said, and pushed open the door he was next to to head down into the room he’d been given. “Come on.”

She only hesitated for a minute before following him down into his room, and dropped down next to him on the bed without thinking about it. “Marcus-” she started, and he shook his head.

“Look,” he started, words heavy and slow, clearly thinking over everything he said. “Pansy, I really do love you, you know?” 

Pansy nodded, biting the inside of her cheek to stop herself from interrupting him. 

“I just… I haven’t been entirely honest with you, about… about my past. My life, before the _Adder_.” Marcus frowned and closed his eyes, and Pansy watched one of his hands clench tightly into a fist. “And it’s, it’s a long story. Too long for tonight. But I thought I was… was over h-it. Over _that_. And I… I don’t know if I am.”

Letting out a sigh of relief, Pansy reached out to grab one of his hands, holding it tightly. “Marcus, you know you’re like, my best friend, right? I mean, I honestly… I’m glad I have you in my life. I just, I don’t know if we’re really supposed to be _together_ , you know? I just don’t think this is what I want - romantically, that is.”

“Fuck,” Marcus sighed in relief, dropping back onto the bed and laughing softly as he went. “I was so worried you were going to be _pissed_ at me, Pans. You honestly don’t know how much of a relief this is,” 

Pansy laughed as well, shifting to fall back beside him, trying not to sigh in relief at how nice it was to finally be lying down. “Well, you could at least _pretend_ to be all broken up about it, you know? ‘ _Oh Pansy, what am I ever going to do now? I’ll never find another girl like you!_ ’” she snickered.

Marcus paused his laughter though, and turned slightly towards her, all of a sudden very serious. “I won’t, you know. Find another girl like you.”

Pansy paused as well, but the bed was so comfy and she was so tired and her eyes were starting to feel so, so heavy. “I’m pretty fuckin great,” she admitted, letting her eyes flutter closed as she snuggled down slightly further into the mattress.

“Yeah,” Marcus mumbled, and Pansy felt him shift and tug her slightly closer, happy to curl up in familiar arms for one more night. “You sure are.”

* * *

 

When Pansy woke up the next morning, her neck was stiff and her still injured ribs were nearly screaming in pain. Somehow she had fallen asleep next to Marcus, and in the middle of the night he had shifted and dropped an arm across her chest. Pansy, still in her ball gown from the night before, managed to shift herself out from underneath him and glanced over at the clock. It was early in the morning, and there was no point that she could see in waking Marcus up now anyways.

Pansy looked over at his sleeping body one last time, and couldn’t help but sigh in contentment. Marcus was _here_ , and _alive_. And back to being nothing more than her best friend, which was exactly how it should have been in the first place.

Shaking the sleep from her limbs, Pansy headed up onto the deck of the ship. She shut Marcus’s door carefully behind her and was just trying to decide if she wanted to go back to her room for more sleep or if she would just change and head to the mess hall when someone cleared their throat behind her. Pansy forced herself not to jump too high and instead turned towards the sound, her heart leaping and then sinking at the sight of Percy. He was all long lanky angles, arms crossed and body leant carefully against the wall. He was the perfect picture of nonchalance - except for the flames Pansy could see flickering behind his eyes.

“Oh,” she breathed, unable to stop herself from flicking her eyes over his body, remembering the feeling of his chest against hers. Pansy swallowed hard and glanced at the door to her own room - she’d have to walk past him to get to it.

“Well,” Percy finally said, voice flat and deadpan and Pansy hated that she could tell there was something on his mind that he wasn’t going to share with her. “That answers _that_ question, then.” His eyes flicked over to Marcus’s door and then back to Pansy, and she realized what it must look like - coming out of Marcus’s room, still in her outfit from the night before. 

The outfit she’d been wearing when _he_ fucked her.

Something akin to anger flared up inside him and Pansy couldn’t stop herself from dropping her hands to her hips and shooting him a scathing look. “Look,” she snapped, resisting the urge to point her finger directly in his face. “I thought he was _dead_ , alright?” 

Percy stayed against the wall, but raised one eyebrow, and Pansy watched the way his shoulders tensed as though he were fighting the urge to push himself away from the wall and towards her. “You realize,” he said, voice low and drawn out and _deep_ , “that doesn’t actually make it _better_. ‘ _Oh, my boyfriend just_ died _, guess I can fuck whoever I want now._ ’”

Pansy’s face flushed deep in anger and she couldn’t stop herself from stomping across the hallway until they were only a foot or so apart. Which was a mistake, of course, because Percy _did_ then stand up fully and Pansy was reminded (again) that he was… significantly taller than her.

“That’s _not_ what happened,” she protested, hating that her voice almost sounded _needy_ , that she even _cared_ what he thought. “We were never… _serious_ or anything.”

“Oh?” Percy pushed, leaning in a little closer to her, and Pansy smelt something suspiciously alcoholic on his breath. Had he slept last night? Was he waiting for her? “Because that _looked_ pretty _fucking_ serious, Pansy.”

Pansy nearly _screamed_ and had to force herself not to throw her hands up in the air in frustration. “Why do you even _care_?” she finally blurted out, narrowing her eyes at him. “So what, we fucked a few times. Which was literally all we were ever doing. I’m an adult and I can make my own goddamn choices, so I don’t even see how this is any of your business at _all_.” 

Percy’s eyes narrowed in response and he stepped to the side, out and around her. “You’re right,” he retorted, glancing over at her one last time before he headed off down the hallway. “You know what, Pansy? Do whatever you want, I _don’t_ care. You were always just going to abandon us anyways.” 

And then, before Pansy had a chance to say another word, he was gone.

For some reason she couldn’t - and certainly didn’t _want_ to - understand, Pansy leant back against the wall, slid down to the floor, and shook with the effort not to cry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PHEW. Sorry for the exceptionally long wait between chapters. It wasn't planned but, well, life gets in the way.
> 
> Big thanks as always to my beta & main love nymphadoraholtzmann. Also to the lovely reviewers who've reminded me how much I love this fic! It makes such a difference seeing that you guys are all enjoying this ridiculous world I'm crafting.
> 
> I'm still a bit ahead of what's being posted, so as a holiday / fuck you 2017 treat I'll try and post at least one more pretty quickly and then get us back on a more regular posting "schedule" in 2018. Writing wise, I'm just finishing up chapter 18. I have absolutely no conception of how many chapters this is going to be, but like. Probably more than 25. At least. Part one ended up at 12 chapters and roughly 30k. I'd say I'm midway through the second parts arc and the total word count is hovering around ~45k, and there's going to be a part three probably at least. So like. I dunno man, hold on.
> 
> Fuck.
> 
> Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and also the beginning of part 2! Thank you so so much for reading. I hugely appreciate all your reviews and feedback and anything you desperately want to see coming up in the next bit. <3 Much love, happy holidays, and a happy new year!!!


	14. Push & Pull

Pansy was in the medbay when Draco woke up screaming.

She’d been slumped over in her chair, half asleep thanks to two nights of restlessness, and had just started to drift when he started. It jolted her so deeply that she almost fell out of the chair as she scrambled towards him, reaching out and catching his uninjured hand in hers.

“Draco,” she tried, squeezing at his fingertips and hoping he would realize what he was doing. “Draco, it’s Pansy, Draco stop-”

Draco’s eyes were screwed tightly shut, mouth open and face contorted in pain. Clearly the sedation had worn off along with the painkillers they’d been feeding him. The noise was nearly inhuman, and Pansy’s entire body went taut in response, her brain shouting down at her that _this was not right at all_. Pansy knew he was in pain, but she hadn’t witnessed it yet and her heart broke as she clutched at his hand and tried not to cry.

It felt like hours when the medbay door finally opened and Theo and Hermione nearly pushed each other over trying to get in first. Pansy had only just convinced them that it would be alright if they left his bedside for a little while, if they went and ate and showered and walked around the ship. Now, she doubted if they’d ever listen to her again. Theo was next to her, gripping at the sides of Draco’s face and trying to get the blonde man to focus on him. Hermione was on the other side, one hand resting on Draco’s exposed collarbone, the other fiddling with the dials beside his bed.

Slowly, too slowly, Draco began to breathe instead of just scream. His eyes drooped but he was clearly still awake. 

“Pain medication,” Hermione explained, as Theo’s shoulders shuddered with his sigh of relief and Pansy dropped back down into her chair, letting her head fall into his hands. “Draco?” she prompted, and the man grunted softly in response. “How are you doing?” 

His head turned slowly towards the Doctor, and Pansy could see the expression he _wanted_ to make hidden behind his drug-masked features. “Fucking _awful_ , thanks Doc.” 

Theo snorted a laugh and Draco looked like he would smack the other man, but it was clearly too much effort.

“Right,” Hermione said, letting out a sigh but not removing her hand from his chest. “I want to put you back to sleep, but I think we should chat. Now that we’re all here.” She glanced to Pansy and then Theo, and then refocused her attention on her actual patient. “I think we’ve got a bigger problem on our hands than we realized.”

Theo finally looked up towards Hermione and Pansy took this as a cue to relax, just slightly, and drop her own hands from her face. “You can’t fix it,” Theo breathed, and the resignation in his voice was so clear as to be painful and Pansy swallowed hard at the implication.

Hermione sat down carefully in the on her side of the bed, lifting her hands to tug at one of her loose curls, clearly fretting over the entire situation. “No,” she admitted. “I still can’t figure out the root of the problem and… and I’m worried that it’s spreading through his tissue. The last scan I did already showed necrosis, and I simply do not feel comfortable leaving necrotic tissue rotting away inside of his hand…”

“Do whatever the fuck you want,” Draco mumbled, blinking sluggishly in Hermione’s direction. “I can’t fucking live like this. Can you make the pain stop?”

Hermione’s face scrunched tightly and she appeared to be considering his words very carefully. “Well. Yes. I-I don’t know if you’ll like my solution.”

Draco snorted. “Look, Doc. Fix the fucking pain or just kill me now and get it over with, alright?”

“Draco!” Theo snapped, glancing down at the pale man on the bed. “He’s joking,” he reassured the girls.

“No he’s not,” Pansy mumbled, just as Draco lifted up his good hand to prod into Theo’s chest.

“I’m not,” Draco agreed, pressing his finger a little harder. “I don’t want to be a fucking… slave to a pain management machine for the rest of my goddamn life. I don’t want to be like your m-” 

Theo’s eyes darkened and he snatched Draco’s hand off his chest. “Don’t you _fucking_ dare, Draco-”

Hermione cleared her throat and the room turned towards her, and she let out a breath. “Draco,” she finally said, turning towards him, “I’d like to go in surgically and try to clear out the necrotic tissue. I want to take a look and see if I can determine the problem and potentially remove whatever the virus is.”

Draco nodded, and took a deep breath. “Good,” he murmured, looking up to Theo and Pansy. “I want you all to go have a nap while she’s working.”

Theo looked like he was about to protest but Draco’s look turned withering and slowly, the other man stood. Pansy dragged herself out of her chair as well, and they both made their way rather slowly to the door. “Hermione,” Theo began, looking back over at her. “Won’t you… do you need help?”

Hermione narrowed her eyes as well. “Listen to your boyfriend,” she scolded. “Besides, you’d be more of a liability than an asset, Theo, and we both know it. Pansy,” she requested, and Pansy nodded.

“Come on, Theo. I’ll show you the room they made up for you two.”

“Draco,” Theo hesitated again, now in the doorway, clearly reluctant to leave. “It’s going to be fine, okay? I love you.”

Draco nearly rolled his eyes, but instead he nodded and managed a weak smile. “I know, you absolute dumbass. Go rest. Doc’s going to fix me up and I’ll be walking around before you know it. Don’t need you passing out on me from sleep deprivation, okay?”

Theo nodded one last time and then he was gone, and Pansy shot Hermione a quick look of what she hoped came off as courage before she followed after him. Just before she rounded the corner she glanced back and took note of the way the two had bent their heads in discussion. Draco’s expression was fierce and unmoving, and while Hermione looked marginally troubled, she too seemed steady and sure.

Pansy left with an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach, that something else was going on. But now, there was nothing she could do but wait.

* * *

It took her a little while, but Pansy did manage to convince Theo that he needed to nap. His room was next to Marcus’s and she got him settled in without running into her ex, or anyone. Which was a small comfort, because although she probably should have followed Draco’s (and her own) advice and taken a nap, all Pansy wanted to do was _scream_. 

Or break something.

Or fuck someone.

None of these were exactly good ideas though, and she had to force herself not to walk towards Percy’s bunk. Which left her very few options, actually. Sure, she could go to the research labs - but then she’d be close to the medbay and she doubted she’d be very useful if she was thinking about Draco in the other room. She could go to the engine room, but then she’d have to deal with Ron. They might be getting along now, but he was still just annoying enough that in her desire to break something, his face might be too appealing of a target.

All of this somehow ended up with Pansy wandering into the mess hall. Ostensibly, she figured she was looking for Daphne or Ginny or Luna, someone she could sit with and maybe find something else to think about other than all the shit going on. Instead, she found Oliver and Marcus standing on opposite sides of the table, tension in the air so thick that Pansy wondered if she could slice through it with one of her knives. Marcus’s shoulders were tight and his hands balled into fists, and Oliver’s face was red and his chest was heaving. 

“This is _my_ fucking ship, Flint,” Oliver growled, lifting one of his hands up to jab a finger in Marcus’s direction. “So you can just-” 

“I don’t know who the _fuck_ you think you are,” Marcus snapped back, cutting Oliver off. “But just because you’ve got some fancy-ass Ministry ship doesn’t mean you’re in charge of what me and _my_ men do.”

Oliver shook his head. “That’s where you’re wrong, Flint. Because you’re on my _ship_ , because you went and got your own ship fucking apprehended, aye? So you’re going to do what I say, we clear?” 

“No, no we’re _fucking not clear_ , actually. This may be your ship but it’s _my_ mission which means I call the shots. And if you think you can tell me what to do with _my mission_ , you’ve got another fucking thing coming. You wanna come around this table and fight me about it, or you afraid you’ll lose again?”

Oliver let out a laugh that rang almost cruel. “You think I lost, last time? Because I’m standing on my very own ship, and you’re a pirate with no boat, no background, no coding-”

“That’s _enough_!” Pansy finally shouted, sensing that the tension in the room was starting to shift and deciding she needed to step in before something worse happened. Thankfully, both Oliver and Marcus turned towards her. Oliver’s shoulders dropped, half in shame and half in thanks, and Marcus frowned down at her.

“Pansy,” Oliver greeted, taking a step back away from the table, away from Marcus. Marcus instead took a step towards Pansy, clearly sensing the problem in her own expression.

“How’s our Cap?” he asked.

Pansy winced. “Not… not great. Granger’s working on him now, doing some sort of surgical… I don’t know. She didn’t seem…” Pansy shrugged and gestured lamely around them. “Confident.”

“Are you okay?” Marcus asked again, voice dropping slightly, clearly wanting to exclude Oliver from their conversation. Pansy was too tired for this, to deal with whatever politics these two had developed in the last few days. 

Instead of responding, she shrugged halfheartedly and looked back to a very uncomfortable looking Oliver, his hands in his pockets and shoulders hunched slightly forward. It looked _wrong_ , in a way, to see him so lacking in his usual confidence and bravado. As soon as Marcus turned his head back to follow Pansy’s sight, Oliver pulled himself up and his brow dropped into a frown. 

Interesting.

“So, were you two talking about the mission?” Pansy finally said, hoping she could switch the topic of conversation to something safer than whatever it was they’d been arguing about.

Marcus spun around to her quickly, eyes wide and mouth set in a firm line. “ _Pansy_ ,” he practically hissed. “What the _fuck_?” 

Pansy’s brows drew together in a frown and she placed her hands on her hips. “Don’t talk to _me_ like that, Marcus Flint.”

“What have you told him? How does he even know about the mission in the first place? _Our_ mission, might I add. We can’t just be letting every fucking-” Marcus gestured around the room around them, “group of… look I don’t even know who the fuck these people are. Flying around in a Ministry ship, but breaking us out of Azkaban? Aren’t you just a little bit concerned?”

Pansy let out a frustrated huff. “No, Marcus. Because I saved their goddamn lives. And because we could really use the extra help on this one, and we don’t need _all_ of the money from it. And they kind of do, because this shit-show of a ship is falling apart around us. We need a ride back to our ship, they need some cash. Gringotts is more or less on the way, it just-”

“I’m sorry,” Oliver interjected smoothly, finally stepping back towards Pansy and Marcus. “Did you say _Gringotts_?”

Pansy turned towards him and couldn’t stop one of her brows from raising. “What, Wood, afraid of a little challenge?”

Oliver’s eyes widened but he shook his head, finally returning her slight grin. “You’re good at this, you know?”

Pansy winked at him and then turned back to Marcus. “Look. It’s going to be fine, alright? I don’t know why you’re having such a problem with Oliver, but really. Some extra hands, good hands, will be really helpful.”

Marcus turned his head back towards Oliver, suspicion carved into his features. “Come on, Pansy, let’s go.” 

Rolling her eyes, Pansy glanced back to Oliver. “Let’s have a meeting with everyone tomorrow, after Draco’s doing better? And figure out our plan here.”

“Ten-four,” Oliver joked, and then Marcus grabbed Pansy’s wrist and pulled her out of the mess hall.

* * *

“I honestly cannot believe you _trust_ him, Pansy,” Marcus hissed as they turned a corner into the hallway.  

Pansy frowned and yanked her hand out of his grip, lifting the other hand to rub at her wrist in mock-pain. Marcus hadn’t actually grabbed her particularly hard - not anything she couldn’t handle, really - but she felt that it was important to make him feel bad about it anyways. “Honestly Marcus, what is your _problem_? Oliver risked a lot to help get you guys out of those fucking prison cells and the next thing I know you’re _screaming_ at him about who the fuck knows what?”

Marcus narrowed his eyes. “You don’t know what I know, Pansy. You can’t trust him.”

Pansy threw her arms up in the air. “You don’t trust fucking _anyone_ , Marcus! Some days I don’t even know if you trust _us_ , and we’re your goddamn fucking _crew_!” Pansy knew her voice was ramping up octaves, and she could feel anger and panic starting to pound at her chest. Nothing set her off more than arguing with her crew, with her _family_. And Marcus was pushing all the right buttons, especially with everything else going on around her. He had always been good at saying exactly what he meant, damn all the consequences.

“Is that what you’re going to fucking say to me now? That after everything we’ve been through, you think I don’t trust you?”

Pansy dropped her hands down to her hips and shrugged. She could feel the cold sweeping through her lungs and up over her tongue, words dripping from her lips like knives before she could stop them. “It’s not like your allegiance has never been bought, before. What did we offer you, Marcus? A little more money? A comfy bed? That’s all it took for you to turn against your last crew. What will it take for you to turn against us?”

Marcus’s eyes nearly flashed red with anger, and the look on his face sent a shiver down the back of Pansy’s spine. “What the fuck do you even know, Pansy? All you are is a social climber’s spoiled brat of a daughter. You talk about allegiance like you know fucking shit, when you’re just some… some little _girl_ who ran away from your obligations to be with your _lover_. Who, fucking, _news flash_ \- is dead. So, yeah, don’t talk to me about allegiance.” 

And all at once, the conversation was too much for Pansy. She’d fought with Marcus before, traded barbs and insults, poked at spots she knew were still soft. But never in a situation like this - on a strange ship surrounded by strange people. People who _hadn’t_ given Marcus a chance to trust them yet. People who hadn’t even really given her that, yet. And Draco was lying in some bed, in too much pain to wake up. And Percy - it was just all too much. Before she could stop herself, she let out a sob and shook her head. 

“Fuck off,” she managed to spit out at the man across the hall from her, and with another stifled cry she turned and ran down the hallway.

Pansy was gone so fast she didn’t hear the far too familiar voice behind her, or the words that followed - “Flint, don’t move a fucking muscle.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!!
> 
> Like I said, another chapter in quick order. Please feel free to share your thoughts & feels & desires & general whatevers. <3
> 
> Enjoy!!!


	15. Developments

“Okay,” Hermione breathed out, eyes flicking nervously between Theo and Pansy, “I really just want you both to remember that I did everything I possibly could have, alright?”

The three were gathered outside of the medbay doors. Pansy’s arms were tight around her body, and Theo’s expression was stoic and serious. Hermione had only just finished, she claimed, and she looked almost as bad as Pansy felt. Her dark skin was nearly ashy, hair springing free from a bun perched on top of her head. Her eyes were rimmed almost red, and her expression was not altogether reassuring.

“You said he was alright,” Theo snapped, glancing over to Pansy quickly and then back at Hermione. “Is he not alright?”

Hermione winced, shrugged one shoulder, shifted slightly to the left and then back. “He… isn’t in pain anymore?” she tried, and Theo’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

“What aren’t you telling us?” he demanded, lifting a finger almost accusingly.

“Theo,” Pansy whispered, her voice thick and heavy with the dredges of sleep she had pushed off at Hermione’s call. “Let’s just go see him, okay?”

Hermione nodded. “I think that’s a good idea,” she agreed, and then opened the medbay door. Theo was in before Pansy had a chance to even blink, and Pansy rushed in after him when she heard him let out a strangled shout.

It didn’t take very long to see what Theo had reacted to. Draco was lying in bed, asleep and peaceful looking for the first time in days. Pansy’s heart relaxed for a moment as she scanned over his face, until her eyes flicked down his arm to his hand.

Or, where his hand _should_ have been. Pansy blinked, dumbfounded for a moment, as she tried to process what had happened. Instead of Draco’s hand at the end of his wrist - pale, with long thin fingers and perfectly rounded nails - there was a plain white bandage, wrapped around the end of his arm.

Theo was on the ground next to him, clutching at Draco’s arm, clearly trying to wake the man up. Hermione stepped into the medbay behind them and the door whirred closed, and Theo turned on her almost immediately.

“What have you _done_?” he whispered, any amount of anger or frustration that should have been in his voice clearly outweighed by grief.

“What Draco and I decided was necessary,” Hermione answered. As uncomfortable as she looked, her face was set and she was clearly confident in her decision. “I think we should wake him up now,” she added, and without waiting for much more input from either Theo or Pansy, headed over to the machine by his bed.

It didn’t take long before Draco was blinking the sleep out of his eyes and lifting his good hand - _only_ , Pansy’s brain supplied rather unhelpfully - to rub at his face. Everyone seemed to hold their breath for a moment as Draco awoke, waiting for the screaming to start. It didn’t.

When he glanced down at his arm, Theo - still beside the bed but no longer clinging to his boyfriend - winced in anticipation. Draco took a long and careful look at his arm and let out a sigh. “Well,” he murmured, and then cleared his throat. “I can’t say this was exactly what I was hoping for…”

“How’s the pain?” Hermione asked, hand hovering nervously near the machine. “I still have you on a low dose pain killer, it’s a rather intensive surgery… but…”

“Better,” Draco said, and then lifted his head to meet her eyes. There was something soft about his expression, an understanding that crinkled around his eyes and smoothed out some of the knots in Pansy’s stomach. “Thank you,” he said, sincerity clear in his tone and the small nod he offered Hermione. She seemed to let out her own sigh and returned the nod as well.

“Draco,” Theo murmured, finally catching his partner’s attention. “What did you do?”

Draco shrugged one shoulder and lifted up his left arm, examining it. “I imagine this will stop feeling so strange eventually,” he mused, before turning towards Theo. His expression had shifted slightly but Pansy couldn’t place it entirely. Sadness, maybe? But a resigned understanding as well. Stoic, in the same way Hermione’s had been. Confident that it had been the right decision, no matter how difficult. “Hermione and I spoke about it after you and Pansy left,” he explained. “We decided that she would try and remove the necrotic tissue without causing damage, but I also thought it was important that she use her judgment and amputate if she felt like there would be too much damage, or if the tissue had been spreading.”

“It was,” Hermione interjected, “spreading, that is. Even as I was cutting away the necrotic tissue it was clinging on, spreading faster the faster I worked. It just wasn’t safe to leave… whatever it was… in his system.”

Draco nodded in agreement. “Theo,” he tried, reaching up his right hand to stroke over his boyfriend’s face. “Look. I’m not really in pain anymore, and I’m going to be alive for a good long time. Don’t you want that?”

Theo huffed slightly in most likely faked annoyance. “Yeah, well, I _liked_ those fingers, you know.”

Draco managed to pull a smirk across his thin lips. “Good thing I have five more.”

“God, get a room,” Pansy murmured at them, drawing a laugh from Hermione. With that, the tension in the room seemed to break around them and Pansy dropped down into a free chair, unable to stop the wheels in her brain from spinning. “You know,” she began, tapping one of her own fingers against her lips. “We _are_ on a research ship, right? And Hermione, you’re kind of an expert in bio-tech, aren’t you?”

“I wouldn’t say _expert_ ,” Hermione hedged, but one of her eyebrows had risen in curiosity. “But, certainly quite competent.”

“It isn’t really my area,” Pansy continued. “But I’m damn good at making small, powerful engines. Something portable, say, small enough to carry on your person, strong enough to perform basic tasks…”

All of a sudden, Hermione’s eyes lit up and she grinned broadly. “Between you, me, and our resident tech expert…”

“We might be able to pull something together?” Pansy finished, and Hermione rubbed her hands together in something close to glee.

“I’m going to go work on a schematic.”

“What…” Theo murmured, looking from Pansy to the door that Hermione had left through without another word. “What just happened?”

“I think,” Draco began, amusement dancing across his features, “that you might not have to miss those fingers for too much longer.”

* * *

Pansy stayed in the medbay until she started to get uncomfortable with the looks that Draco and Theo were exchanging, and until she started to feel like without coffee she might _actually_ drop dead, and then she bid her friends goodnight (good morning? She wasn’t sure anymore) and left.

Even though Pansy had claimed that she desperately needed sleep, when she stepped into the surprisingly fresh air of the hallway she decided that she didn’t actually want to head directly back to bed. By now, she was fairly certain it was daytime proper and not unholy-hours-of-the-night daytime, and so she decided that maybe coffee was actually her best bet, and decided to head to the mess hall. She had just started to make her way in that direction when a familiar voice drifted through a slightly open door, and Pansy paused to investigate.

Pansy was able to glance through said door without pushing it open further, and one of her brows quirked in question as she tried to focus on what was happening. Neville and Daphne were bent over a plant, shoulders touching as Neville pointed something out. His entire face was alight, eyes nearly sparkling with joy as he described said plant. Frankly, it sounded _horrifying_ to Pansy - some sort of carnivorous bite-y thing that had a hell of a scream, though it wasn’t actually dangerous to humans. Neville was looking at the plant in the way Pansy remembered girls back home looking at perfect beautiful roses, and when he turned towards Daphne his cheeks flushed just slightly.

Hmm.

Daphne, for her place, seemed far more interested than Pansy would have been, if someone was just talking to her about plants. In fact, she reached a hand out towards the plant, and Pansy forced back a laugh as Neville reached out and caught her wrist, keeping her hand away.

“You… you erm, really shouldn’t… shouldn’t touch it-” he stammered, and Daphne let out a laugh that felt like it lightened the world pressing down on Pansy’s shoulders. Clearly it had a similar effect on Neville, who dropped her hand and blushed even more.

“Look,” Daphne finally said, her face broad in a grin and her eyes dancing with mischief. “I know I may look like some… some damsel in distress to you,” she stated, and her grin grew as Neville quickly shook his head against this. “I’m not as fragile as I look, Neville. Let me touch the damn plant.”

Pansy had to back away from the door then in order to contain her laughter, but she couldn’t help glance back in to see Neville nod, and reach out to catch Daphne’s hand once more. This time was softer, more sure, and he carefully guided her fingers out towards the slightly swaying plant in front of them.

 _Interesting_ , Pansy decided, as her brain once more screamed out for coffee and propelled her legs towards the mess hall once more. _Very, very interesting._

* * *

Pansy was nearly at the kitchen when she spotted a familiar body down another hall, and before her brain reminded her that they were fighting, she called out “Marcus!” - and the man turned.

When he did, Pansy’s jaw dropped. Marcus was standing ten feet away from her, his arms crossed over his chest, sour expression on his face. Only, said expression was marred by the fact that his left eye was nearly swollen shut, black bruised skin almost shining in the dim cabin lighting.

Slowly, Pansy’s brain jammed back into gear and she shook her head, and the only response that seemed appropriate was a low whistle and a shocked “what the _fuck_?”

At this reaction, Marcus raised his un-bruised brow and took a few steps closer to her. “Don’t look so shocked,” he said, voice a little flat as he regarded her with something that seemed to be a healthy mix of suspicion and distrust, but with a hint of maybe-almost-pride, as well. Marcus was a confusing person, despite most people’s views that he was just muscle-mass and a thick skull. “It was your little watchdog that did it.”

“Huh?” Pansy managed, reaching her fingers out towards his face as he came closer, and then thinking better and letting her hand drop. “My _what_?”

“Well,” Marcus continued, glancing around them to make sure the hallway was empty. “At least now I know why you’re not… how did you put it, ‘ _romantically interested_ ’ in me? Not sure whether to be fucking pissed at you or a little proud, that you conned someone from a _Ministry Ship_ into your bed.”

Pansy shook her head again, trying to put together what Marcus was saying. It didn’t make any sense, who would have hit Marcus? And for what reason?

And then, something in her stomach dropped just as something in her chest leapt and she swallowed, hard, as the realization settled in. “You don’t… you’re not saying that-”

“That asshole red-headed guy punched me in the face for-” Marcus paused to make a face that looked almost like it bordered on disgust, “not treating my girl right. As if you’re my girl. As if anyone has any say in the way we interact.”

“Oh,” Pansy breathed.

“Oh,” Marcus repeated, though his tone was sure and strong and almost cocky. “I suppose you did always give rather good blowjobs. Nothing worth _punching someone in the face over_ ,” Marcus amended, though there was now more of a joking lilt in his words, “but, certainly not the worst I’ve ever had.”

“Marcus!” Pansy half shouted, and - now that they were only a few feet apart - reached out to punch his arm. “This isn’t- that’s not-” Pansy took a deep breath and shook her head, trying to make sense of all of this. “Look, I didn’t _ask_ him to do that.”

Marcus managed a smile at her. “I know,” he said. “And, I guess I was being a bit of an asshole.”

Pansy scoffed. “A bit,” she agreed, crossing her arms over her chest.

“And,” Marcus continued, “Now I can see where this “trust” is actually coming from-”

“That’s not it at all,” Pansy corrected, shaking her head. “Look. You don’t have to trust them too, Marcus. I’m not asking you to, I dunno, make _friends_ or anything. But, the point is we need to get back to our ship. We needed help with Draco-” Marcus’s face paled slightly and he glanced towards the direction of the medbay- “and, once they realized that I wasn’t going to kill them all in their sleep, they’ve actually been pretty good to me here. Fresh food, cooked meals, a warm bed… I’m not saying ignore your instincts, but they’re not about to set us out to drift or turn us into the Ministry.”

Marcus huffed, but Pansy knew she was wearing away at him a bit, and finally he nodded. “Fine. But once we’re done this mission, once we have our ship back, we’re getting _out_ of here, Pansy. I… I have my reasons for not trusting him-” Marcus winced, and corrected- “them.”

“Why don’t you just _tell me_?” Pansy pressed, for the second time in as many days. Asking yesterday had been what started the fight in the first place.

Marcus shook his head. “I’m sorry, it’s. You know me, Pansy. I’ve always been private, and this… it’s too much. I’m just asking you to believe me, and to realize that when we leave, we’re leaving.”

Pansy glanced towards the research lab again, and her entire body tightened as she realized what she’d done.

“Whatever is happening-” Marcus gestured back towards the bunks- “I don’t want to know. You’re an adult, and you can make your own choices. You don’t belong to me - but you don’t belong to _him_ , either. And… and there’s _something_ going on here, Pansy. I’m not the smartest guy around, but. Please be careful?”

Pansy nodded, slowly and uncertainly. A nod wasn’t a commitment to anything, right?

Right.

“Draco’s awake,” she managed to say, deciding she couldn’t even being to parse out whatever these feelings might be without the coffee she’d now been trying to get for nearly an hour. “Um, he’s doing better, but…”

Marcus shook his head. “Don’t. It’s not your job to break whatever the news is. I was just on my way there now. Wanted to give him and Theo some space, and you.”

“Marcus?” Pansy said, hating the vulnerability creeping around the edges of her voice. “I do love you, y’know. You’re my best friend. And you really know how to piss me the fuck off, but, still.”

Marcus laughed and tugged her in for a quick hug. “Go get some food, Pans. You look like death.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“Love you too,” Marcus murmured against her hair, and then shoved her slightly towards the kitchen and headed off as well.

At least, Pansy thought as she watched him saunter off, at least her crew were safe. Though, she’d have to talk to Percy now about the whole punching people in the face thing. Unfortunately, Pansy had a sinking suspicion that - without even considering the mission ahead of them - things were only going to get more complicated from here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi hello I am still alive!!! It has been as always a hectic few months, but I am back in school now (god help me) and that means my creative brain has slammed back to life with a vengeance (very useful, self).
> 
> I still have a few more chapters that I wrote before that I'm going to upload over the next little bit and then I'm starting to ramp back up into writing new ones! I promised you this story wasn't over and it isn't - we still have a loooong way to go!
> 
> As always, thanks for being my brain, nymphadoraholtzmann!


	16. Caffeine

Pansy had been hoping rather desperately that the mess hall would be empty by the time she made it there. The day already felt like it had been one of the longest in her life and it was still barely past breakfast time. And frankly, though there were a lot of people on the ship she probably _should_ be speaking to, mostly Pansy was hoping for a few minutes alone to collect her thoughts.

Unfortunately, she was rarely that lucky.

When she spotted the familiar head of red hair at the dining room table, half of Pansy’s instincts screamed at her to _run_ and the other half flared up in anger. As usual, the anger side won out and Pansy slammed her hand into the button behind her so that the door of the hall whirled closed behind her.

Percy didn’t move immediately, but when Pansy stormed towards the table - her boots clicking aggressively across the flooring - his head turned to the side. If Pansy spotted a touch of red colouring the tips of his ears, she decided not to comment.

“What the _fuck_ is your problem?”

This caught Percy’s attention completely and he set his mug down on the table so that he could turn towards her. All thoughts of her own need for coffee had disapparated completely at the thought of him punching Marcus in the face, and so she let her anger fuel her instead.

Before Percy even had a chance to speak, Pansy lifted a finger to point at him rather menacingly. “I’m not some… some _damsel_ in need of defending!”

Percy’s eyes narrowed at this and Pansy knew she’d struck some sort of a nerve when he stood up to face her. She’d almost forgotten how tall he was, and she shifted slightly in place to try and hold her ground, now that she had to look up at him.

“ _Fuck_ , Pansy. Seriously? You… he shouldn’t be allowed to talk to you like that. _No one_ should. You’re just going to let him push you around then, treat you like shit?”

Pansy’s eyes grew and then her brow drew together further as she closed the distance between them to jab her finger into his chest. Hard. “What do you even know about anything, _Percy_?” Pansy spat his name like it was foul, poking her finger harder into his sternum to accentuate her words. “You don’t know anything about me, or Marcus, or what we’re like together. You don’t know _anything_.”

Percy’s eyes narrowed now and he reached up to catch her wrist, stopping the incessant poking and holding her hand still. Not too tightly, but the message was clear enough. “Well, you’re finally right about something,” he retorted, his voice steady and sure - the tone that came from hundreds of arguments across a lifetime. “I _don’t_ know anything about you. But that’s not my fault. You’re the closed book, Pansy. And don’t even start on this together bullshit. God, you can’t even decide about what the two of you are, let alone what you _need_.”

“Look. You walked in on an argument you don’t - _couldn’t_ \- understand. Marcus and I have been very good friends for a very long time and we’re going to stay that way, despite our rather short lived attempt at a romantic relationship. We’re both hot headed, and we both know how to push each other's buttons, but that doesn’t mean you can go around _punching people_ on my - absolutely misguided, by the way - behalf!” Pansy was breathing heavily now, and it suddenly sunk in how close she was to Percy. Despite her pure anger at her actions, she couldn’t help notice the shift in his eyes, the way his hand tightened again, just slightly, around her wrist. 

Couldn’t help notice that, despite all of that, the thought of someone wanting to stand up to protect her honour was, unfortunately, _very_ attractive.

Percy seemed to notice the shift as well, because he leaned forward just slightly, and his eyes flicked away from hers to skim over her lips. “You deserve more than for someone to yell at you,” Percy finally stated, and his voice had lost part of it’s edge, but picked up some extra heat along the way.

Pansy shivered. She couldn’t help it. “What do you even care anyways?” she finally breathed out, her tongue skimming across her lips quickly. Her entire body seemed to be reacting without her. “I thought this was all just sex, never meant anything.”

“We’ve already had this argument,” Percy responded, as though he were suggesting they’d actually already figured out what the solution was. Or, like it didn’t matter anyways. Pansy, close enough to smell him and feel the heat of his body now, was wondering if it even _did_ matter.

Still halfway through trying to come up with her response, Pansy almost didn’t hear someone in the hallway calling her name. In fact, her body seemed to be pressing closer towards Percy’s, leaning in instinctively, when she _did_ hear it.

The door to the mess hall clicked, and they barely responded fast enough. Percy stepped back and dropped down onto the bench as though he had never gotten up, and Pansy sprang backwards, both turning their heads towards the door. It whirred open to reveal an almost slightly frantic looking Hermione, her hair trying desperately to escape from the bun she’d tied it into, a stack of papers in her arms.

“There you are! Oh, both of you, perfect!” Hermione blinked two or three times, as though her brain started to try and figure out why they were in the mess hall with the door shut but then decided against it and turned back down it’s original track.

“Hermione,” Percy greeted, his voice as level as he could make it. Pansy couldn’t help but notice that he shifted slightly, moving one leg to cross over the other in an attempt to look casual. “Good morning. We missed you at breakfast today.”

Hermione flapped her hand at him as though breakfast was the last thing on her mind. It probably was. “No time,” she stated, and then grinned. “Come on, I’m glad I got you both at once. I think I’ve got an idea.”

And then she turned and left the room. Percy glanced towards Pansy, raising a brow in a ‘ _does this mean anything to you?_ ’ gesture. All she could do was shrug, and then they followed Hermione down to the labs.

* * *

“Right,” Hermione said, as Pansy and Percy followed her into her lab. She had barely paused to let the door shut before she was speaking, so quickly that Pansy’s tired brain prompted her  to squint to focus on the words. “So I’ve already drawn up a plan for the best way to connect the biomechanics, though I’m struggling slightly on what the best idea is for a power source, and then of course what type of motor to-”

Percy cleared his throat, and Hermione paused to glance at him. “Sorry to interrupt,” he said, almost cautiously, “but - what are you talking about?”

Hermione’s eyes grew and she glanced at Pansy quickly. “You didn’t tell him?”

Pansy shook his head. “No, I was just trying to get some coffee.”

The doctor huffed out a sigh and pointed towards the back of the workroom where a small coffee table was set up - Pansy could still see tendrils of smoke curling up and away from the pot. With a relieved sigh, Pansy headed over towards the life sustaining liquid and let Hermione explain what had happened, and then the plan that they had started to develop. 

When Pansy returned with her coffee, Percy had rolled up his sleeves and was tapping one of his fingers against his lips, clearly lost in thought as he pored over the diagrams that Hermione had pushed into his hands. Hermione looked impatient, but she was clearly used to his style of work and was waiting for him to analyze what she had suggested and determine the feasibility of what she was asking.

“Yes,” he finally said slowly, moving to tap at one part of the diagram. “I think you’ve got a good start here, Hermione, though I think we might have to alter some of your dimensions here to fit in a power source. I’m wondering if we can convert kinetic energy into stored potential energy as opposed to something more traditional, so as long as it’s being used regularly it wouldn’t actually require as large of a power bank. ”

Hermione nodded enthusiastically. “Exactly! Honestly the only limitation I can think of is going to be the motor - something small enough but powerful enough, especially because I want to put an EP chip in. Well, more than one. But electrocorticography grids are old news, so I’m not worried too much about that part.”

Percy was nodding now too, and there was a smile on his face that Pansy wasn’t sure she’d ever seen before. “So you’d wire it like a computer, and link it right up with his primary motor cortex. And here - is this for sensory processing? A whole other chip you’d need there, and a computer, too, to process the signals into something transmittable through electrodes...” he said, pointing at another piece of the diagram that Pansy couldn’t quite see.

“Exactly! And that’s the thing, the tech _does_ exist. Or at least… close enough that I think we can make it work. Just, the processing power we’d need in such a small space-”

It was Pansy’s turn to clear her throat slightly, and both Hermione and Percy looked towards her, a hopeful expression painted across Hermione’s face. Percy looked more curious, and expectant. As though he fully believed that she could come up with the solution and was just waiting to see how.

“I think… I think I might have a few ideas.”

Hermione’s grin cracked open into something bordering almost on the edge of mad genius, and Percy raised a single red eyebrow at her.

“Well then, Miss Engineer, where do we start?”

* * *

It was hours later when Pansy finally realized that too many days with almost no sleep, barely any food, and probably two more cups of coffee than she _should_ have had was catching up with her. Even Hermione was starting to look tired - or, _more_ tired - and Percy was drooping a little into his hand.

“We need to take a break,” he finally said, and Pansy couldn’t help but agree with him. Her head was starting to hurt and she’d been skimming the same slide about nanotech over and over again for what felt like an hour.

“Food,” she croaked out softly, not realizing her voice had gotten so hoarse. How long had they been sitting in silence?

Hermione nodded though it was clear she wasn’t really paying attention. “Right,” she said, distractedly. “You two go on, I’ll be there in a minute-”

Percy shook his head and stood, catching one of Hermione’s arms and tugging her away from her work. “Nope,” he said, firmly, “you need to eat too. And sleep.” Percy paused, wrinkled his nose in slight distaste, and shot Hermione a look. “And shower.”

Hermione’s dark skin flushed slightly and she let Percy pull her away from the table and her stack of notes, but not without looking back at them. “I was really close to-”

“It’ll all be here in a few hours,” Percy reassured her. “Besides, you’re no good to us if you kill yourself in the research process. And you’ve got a patient to check on first.”

Hermione’s eyes lit up slightly at this and she nodded quickly. They were in the hallway now, and Pansy had turned towards the mess hall, but Hermione was starting to move in the direction of the medbay. “Right! I should go make sure-”

“Nope,” Percy said again, and he looked vaguely amused. Clearly it was something he’d done before with Hermione, and she shot him a look that said she knew _exactly_ what he was up to. “You need to eat, shower, and nap. And _then_ you can go and check on Draco. He isn’t about to die this second - I’m sure Theo wouldn’t let him.” Pansy snorted in agreement, and Hermione sighed in resignation.

“Fine,” she finally said, and let Percy lead her to the kitchen.

* * *

Pansy was looking forward to a completely quiet meal, preferably one with as little brain use as possible. Unfortunately, her day had other plans, and they arrived at the mess hall to find Oliver and Ginny and Harry huddled around the table, heads close together as they discussed something amongst themselves. When Pansy walked in, Oliver met her eyes and smiled cautiously at her.

“Just the person we were waiting for,” he said, and Pansy couldn’t stop herself from groaning as she dropped down onto an empty spot on the bench. That was the last thing she wanted to hear.

“Hello to you too,” Ginny mumbled, and Pansy - so tired she could barely think - couldn’t stop herself from sticking her tongue out at the redhead. Ginny laughed, and Pansy dropped her head forwards onto the table.

“We need to start talking about the mission,” Oliver continued, and Pansy shuddered at the thought of more talking. More thinking.

Luckily, Marcus was nowhere in sight. “I don’t know much about it,” she admitted. “Marcus wasn’t wrong when he said it was his. And we didn’t talk too much about it before they… before they got captured.”

Oliver frowned at this and Ginny dropped a hand down to the table in frustration. Harry, for his part, stayed mostly silent. He was silent quite a lot, but Pansy had a feeling that had more to do with her presence than anything else. Clearly, despite the time and mostly comfortable arrangement they’d come to, he still didn’t entirely trust Pansy or her crew.

She wasn’t sure she blamed him.

“He doesn’t want to work with us!” Ginny spat out, crossing her arms across her chest. “I don’t even know why we’d bother to try then, if he’s going to be such a-”

“I’ll talk to him,” Pansy groaned against the wood.

Percy lifted a hand and Pansy froze for a moment - from the corner of her eye it almost seemed like he was going to place it reassuringly on her back. Her entire body tensed as she tried to decide if she’d like that or not, and when his hand instead dropped down to the table as well she tried to squash the disappointment out of her stomach. “Not today,” he stated, glancing up at Oliver in a way that was clearly some form of command. “We’ve been working all day and we all need sleep. It can wait until tomorrow.”

“But-” Ginny began, and Percy shot the same look at her, cutting her off before she started.

“Nope,” he said again, a solid finality in his voice. “Food. Sleep. Tomorrow, we’ll figure out the plan.”

“Tomorrow,” Pansy agreed, unable to stop the slightly contented sigh. Normally, if she’d been awake, she probably would have been frustrated with Percy for trying to take care of her, to tell her when she could - or should - do something. But for now, her exhausted brain was just so glad she didn’t have to fight about it. When someone slid a plate of food next to her head she managed to eat enough of it to no longer feel ill, and then - in a haze that felt like she was almost already under - Pansy stumbled off to her room and promptly fell asleep.

For once, she didn’t even dream about a hard body against hers, or a husky voice whispering commands in her ear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter! And so soon! Thanks for all the encouraging comments from the last one, it is so nice to hear from yall again!
> 
> Please feel free to send more questions, comments, concerns - I have one and a half more chapters written so far but I'd love to get back into my productive writing speed which is, well, more than that. So I'll take any encouragement you've got!
> 
> Much love and happy October!


	17. Taking Charge

It took almost twenty minutes for Pansy to convince Marcus to sit down with the crew of the _Phoenix_ to figure out the mission they had ahead of them. Even as he settled down at the mess hall table next to Pansy, his brow was furrowed and he looked unhappy with the entire situation. He kept glancing up at Oliver and Pansy swore she saw a muscle in the back of his neck twitch. His eye was still black and purple, and every so often he shot a glare at Percy as well.

The table was almost crowded. Oliver, Harry, Ginny, and Percy sat on one end. Ginny’s arms were crossed and Harry looked like he was analyzing the entire situation. Oliver was taking stock of the _Adder’s_ crew. Along with Pansy and Marcus, Draco had emerged from the medbay for the first time and was more or less sitting up by himself, though he was still clearly leaning on Theo for some support – though probably more emotional than physical.

“Right,” Oliver finally said, after a few minutes of tense silence. “I think everyone knows why we’re here?”

Marcus couldn’t contain his eye roll. “Mission stealers,” he mumbled, but Pansy backhanded him in the chest and he shut up without much more protest.

Pansy turned towards her captain, and Draco managed a small smirk in her direction. They’d spoken about it a bit before she went to convince Marcus to work with the _Phoenix_ , and he’d agreed that it made the most sense. After all, the job they were taking on would be easier with more bodies - especially Ministry ones - and it was a large enough payout that they’d still walk away with something. And besides, Draco wasn’t one to let debts go unpaid. The _Phoenix_ ’s crew had been instrumental into getting them off of Diagon and in saving his life. It was time to repay the favour.

“So it’s probably time you actually told us what this ‘top secret’ mission of yours actually _is_ , you know,” Ginny said, letting her hands drop down to the table. “Unless you plan on blindfolding all of us and flying the ship yourselves.”

Marcus started to perk up a little, as if this was actually a much better idea, but Pansy shot him a _cut it out_ glare that seemed to do the trick. Finally he sighed and tugged something out of his pocket, a small oval the size of his palm that flashed silver in the light. Ginny narrowed her eyes at it for a moment, as if she had seen the item before, and then Marcus tapped a button and the entire thing sprung to life. Light beamed out from the top of it and an image took shape on the table, something large that looked like it had several broken spaceships jutting out of its sides.

The room was silent for a minute until Oliver let out a long, low breath. “Gringotts.”

Marcus seemed almost pleased by the reaction and he grinned, just slightly. “Yup." 

“Fuck,” Ginny mumbled, and Pansy nodded in agreement. Gringotts was more than just a mission. It was one of the largest colonies drifting around out there, the entire thing so complicated that - rumour had it - someone could get lost inside forever. Hundreds of old ships docked or welded haphazardly together, many of them old scavenged ones that had been picked up by a group who liked to call themselves the Goblins, for reasons that inspired bedtime stories – and not the good kind. They ran what they called a bank - though really it was more like a set of interconnected vaults. For a hefty enough price, you could pay to have something stored somewhere on the massive colony and - if you were lucky - one day you might even be able to get it back. Pansy knew it well - places that had no allegiance other than material had always been popular with her father and his friends.

Oliver shook his head at the hologram, taking in the size of the problem in front of them. “Right. I’m going to make a wild guess here and say we’re not just picking up something you lot paid to have stored here for a while, hm?”

Marcus laughed, low and mean, and shook his head. “Nope,” he confirmed, and then pointed. “We’ve been contracted out to retrieve a few items that were stored inside.” 

Theo rolled his eyes. “That makes it sound like someone’s sent us to pick up their dry cleaning,” he muttered, and Harry rose an eyebrow.

“What is it?” he asked, and Marcus shrugged nonchalantly.

“Don’t know, don’t care. They don’t pay us to be nosy,” Marcus responded, and Harry frowned at this but didn’t say anything else.

Ginny huffed and shook her head, spotting the flaw in the plan immediately. “Well, this is all fine. Except, you know, _giant impenetrable space colony_ guarded by a group of _very_ angry people-” 

“Goblins,” Draco interjected smoothly.

Ginny rolled her eyes. “Whatever,” she mumbled, and then refocused on Marcus. “So, what’s the _plan_? We can’t just go storming in there demanding they hand it over. And none of us have enough money to pay them off.” 

Pansy, though she hated that she was doing it, couldn’t help but nod in agreement with Ginny. “Marcus?” she questioned, turning towards her crewmember. They had really only just gotten the mission when they’d been ambushed by the Ministry - they hadn’t had time to figure it out. Marcus had more intel on Gringotts than the rest of them, though, so he’d taken point.

“Well,” he began, looking around the table. “The Goblins are tricky, of course, because they have absolutely no allegiance to anyone or anything. Except, of course, money.” 

Oliver cleared his throat slightly. “And things they might find useful,” he muttered.

Marcus, clearly frustrated to have someone else reveal this piece of information, shot Oliver a withering look then glanced away again. “Yes. They’ve got a large colony to sustain. Money can only buy so much when there are many people in the universe who wouldn’t work with you for fear of, ahh, repercussions. The Ministry doesn’t exactly _like_ them.”

“So what do they want?” Harry asked. 

Marcus tossed both hands in the air in a shrug. “Who knows. Changes all the time, based on what they need.”

Oliver shook his head, his own frustration clear in his tensed shoulders. “Well then that’s not a plan at all,” he stated simply. “If we have no idea what they want, there’s no way we can give it to them. So what’s the point of even thinking that’s an option?”

Pansy shook her head. “No, that’s… that’s not how it works,” she mumbled. Percy raised a brow at her and Pansy hoped to god she wasn’t blushing under his intense gaze. “We have to offer what we can. If it’s good enough, they’ll let us in.”

“And if it’s _not_?” Ginny pushed.

Draco shrugged nonchalantly, thin shoulders moving elegantly despite his arm staying close to his body. “Maybe they let us go. Maybe they kill us. They might eat us. Hopefully after the killing - though, from some of the stories I’ve heard...”

Ginny shuddered. Pansy, silently, agreed again. 

“Fine,” Oliver huffed, rubbing at his forehead. “So we show up, offer who knows what, and then they give us what we want?” 

Marcus shook his head again, clearly happy that Oliver really had no idea what the mission would entail. “No. That just gets us in the door. Maybe a point in the right direction, if we’re really goddamn lucky. But that’s not the big worry - I’ve got a pretty good idea of where we need to go.”

Oliver groaned like he _knew_ this was a terrible idea, and shook his head again. “Fine. Harry, let’s change our course towards Gringotts. Then we’ll figure out what we can all bring to the table as an offering. We’ve got a mechanic and a few pilots, but maybe we can come up with something.”

“All,” Marcus repeated, speaking with clear finality. “We _all_ need to go.” 

“Excuse me?” Ginny asked, narrowing her eyes.

Marcus turned to look at her. “If we leave people on the ship, that could be seen as a sign that we’re preparing for an ambush. Or that we’re hiding something from them. The Goblins don’t like when you hide things from them. We _all_ go. Besides - I think we’ve got a better chance of coming up with a suitable offering if we bring the scientists along.”

Ginny turned this idea over in her head, and Pansy noticed that she flicked her eyes back towards the kitchen. Luna wasn’t there, but it was clear that the redhead was worried about her girlfriend nonetheless. 

“I think Marcus is right,” Pansy finally said, after a long moment of silence. “We’ll have more people to search the ship too. Our chances are way better if we all go.”

Slowly, the entire crew of the _Adder_ turned to Oliver. Their entire crew was involved from the start, and it was asking a lot of Oliver to put his crew’s lives on the line. Even still, after another few slow silent minutes, he nodded.

“We all go,” he decided, and then shot Marcus a threatening glare. “If you get my crew killed, Flint, you’ll _wish_ you were dead.”

* * *

Draco was insistent that he absolutely could not go on a mission whilst missing a hand, and since there was at _least_ a day’s worth of flight time between the ship and Gringotts, Pansy found herself back down in Hermione’s lab. She was bent over a desk in the corner with a slightly too large welding helmet pulled down over her face, a torch in her hand. 

While there were nowhere near close to being done with their final product, Pansy figured she might as well build the first prototype of the skeleton design they’d come up with. That would give them an idea of fit as well as space - though the final version would be made of something more lightweight (she was toying with the idea of carbon fiber) and not whatever they had lying around. For the most part, Pansy was just aiming for something hand shaped that Draco could throw a glove over, so at least he _felt_ whole.

Shutting off her torch, Pansy set down the object in her hand so that she could take off her helmet and gloves. As she emerged from behind the sheltered welding area, she couldn’t help but glance at Percy. He was hunched over a table, a pair of glasses perched on his nose, brow furrowed tightly in concentration. He looked… at home. 

Pansy’s heart clenched and she tried to bite back the feeling she’d been suppressing for days.

Hermione was nearby, one hand tangled in her curly hair, muttering to herself about thermoconductive pressure sensors. Deciding that that would be entirely too much of a conversation to jump into, Pansy headed to Percy’s table instead.

It took a moment before he realized she was there, and when he did he set down the small partially assembled device in his hands.

“How’s it coming?”

Pansy shrugged. “This isn’t really my strong suit,” she admitted, glancing over the crude hand she had created. “I'm better with moving parts.”

Percy nodded in agreement but picked it up anyways, nodding in approval. “I think it’ll do,” he finally said, and Pansy’s traitorous heart soared at the praise.

“Great,” she said, letting out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding and then making the mistake of letting her eyes lock with Percy’s. She wasn’t sure, just then, why she had always thought of his eyes as _blue_. There were so many layers of depth - bright and steely and then beyond that, something darker and _heavy_ \- that she almost reeled. Eyes shouldn’t say so much, and yet. 

Percy was watching her back, his entire body nearly frozen as they considered each other. Pansy couldn’t stop her brain from jumping to the same conclusion she had been trying so hard to suppress. There was something _important_ about this moment - about Percy. Something that drew her in like a moth to a flame and she had been fighting the pull, but now she wanted to _burn_.

Instead, Pansy forced herself to look away and take a deep breath, ignoring the way that she could hear Percy do the same. All of a sudden everything was overwhelming, and even though something inside of her protested, she forced herself to stand and back away, heading out of the workshop.

“I need… more coffee, I think,” she mumbled as she did so, half apology and half excuse. “I’ll be back later.”

And then Pansy left, relief flooding through her system at the same time as panic, something inside of her shouting that she had made the wrong decision.

* * *

Seeing as she’d said that her plan was coffee, Pansy figured she might as well actually get some. It couldn’t hurt. Just as she reached the mess hall she had a moment of worry about who would be inside, but luckily it was empty and she was able to make herself a cup and sit down at the table.

Unfortunately, the peace and quiet only lasted for a few minutes. Pansy, not for the first time, had a moment of longing for their empty spaceship where she could go for hours without seeing anyone else. This ship was bigger, yes, but it was also more populated, and short of hiding in her room it was mostly just a given that she’d run into at least a few people any time she tried to do anything.

Luckily, it was Daphne who’d found her, and despite a small moment of frustration for the idea of _people in general_ , Pansy really was glad to see her friend. With everything that had happened with Draco and now planning for the new mission, they hadn’t had much time just to chat and catch up. 

Daphne sank gracefully down across the table from Pansy and let out a happy sigh. “Hi,” she stated simply, and Pansy couldn’t help but smile in response.

“Hey.”

“I haven’t had time yet to thank you,” Daphne said, gesturing around the kitchen as she spoke. “For letting me come with you. For all of this.”

Pansy shrugged uncomfortably. “It’s no problem, Daph. This isn’t even my ship anyways.”

Daphne laughed. “That’s true. Maybe I should withhold my gratitude until I see where we’re actually living?”

“Hey!” Pansy shot Daphne a look, before she laughed. “The _Adder_ is a lot smaller,” she admitted. “And the food isn’t nearly as good as it is here.”

“Hmm,” Daphne paused and drummed her fingers on the table. “Maybe I’ll stay here instead,” she mused.

Pansy couldn’t help it, and she smirked and snatched up the opportunity that arose. “Well, it looks like you’re getting pretty friendly with the crew. Or, is it just Neville?”

A deep flush spread up Daphne’s neck and she shook her head. “It’s not like that,” she protested. “Besides. You’re getting pretty cozy with the crew as well,” she pointed out, and then frowned slightly. “I did mean to ask… what happened to Blaise? You two were so, well, in love. It was almost obnoxious,” she admitted with a laugh, not noticing the way Pansy’s face had fallen and her head had drooped. “I didn’t think he’d up and leave you after that.”

“He didn’t,” Pansy spoke, her voice barely higher than a whisper. “He died.”

Daphne gasped and then, in what felt like a breath, she’d rushed around to the other side of the table, throwing her arms around Pansy. “Oh Pans, I’m so sorry, I didn’t… I wouldn’t… I didn’t know.”

Pansy shook her head, trying to force the tears that were starting to leak back down. She hated that this had made her so weak, that she still had such a huge area of vulnerability after all this time. “I know. I… I don’t like to talk about it.”

“Of course,” Daphne mumbled, brushing away a few of Pansy’s tears with her fingers and then giving her friend’s shoulder a comforting squeeze. “If you do though, want to talk, well. I’m here now.”

“Thanks,” Pansy mumbled, wondering if the day would ever come when she actually _wanted_ to share what had happened. Maybe that would make the nightmares stop, would make the flashbacks less painful.

Or maybe it would just remind her that he was dead, and not coming back. 

“Well,” Daphne tried to force something like cheeriness back into her tone. “Neville said that Oliver mentioned we’d all be tagging along for the next mission. Why don’t we talk about that instead? No one will really tell me anything…”

Pansy took one last deep shuddering breath before she steeled her shoulders and turned towards her friend. “What do you know about Gringotts?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In honour of finally finishing chapter 18, here is chapter 17 for your enjoyment! Keep an eye out for 18 early next week. And THANK YOU all of you for your comments and love for the last few chapters. It's so amazing to know that yall have stuck with me through this weird hiatus.
> 
> Also, if you havent read olivieblake's "Nobility", yall need to go do that right now. Her Pansy is just sheer brilliance and a lot of inspiration for mine.
> 
> (And, I can't express enough how grateful I am for nymphadoraholtzmann, who puts up with me in all ways but who also encourages and inspires me to actually get my shit together and write more of this story!!!! <3)


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